Artscape | Megan's Head

Hol hol hol

On November 13, 2011

I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it ever. Hol is Nicola Hanekom’s one woman tour de force (she wrote it and performs it) directed by Fred Abrahamse, and it opened at Artscape’s Arena Theatre as part of this year’s Artscape’s Season of New Writing.

Now I knew all about this piece; Nicola and I have spoken about it before, but nothing could have prepared me for it, and I was undone by this most brilliant show. Picture this. As you enter the theatre the glaring white perspex box of the set (brilliantly designed by Marcel Meyer) frames a treadmill. The character that Nicola plays, Lisbet, is already on it, walking and running, and drinking water. And that is where she stays, for the next hour. For the next hour she is on that treadmill, running. Running away, running towards thinness, running her thoughts out of her head, running alongside them as they appear to torment her.

I keep saying, I have never seen anything like it, and there is nothing to compare it to. Nicola’s performance is jaw dropping, heart aching, and astounding. She manages to combine fierce technique, unbelievable fitness, perfect timing and an emotional connection for every single moment of this complicated, magnificently written, cerebral, layered, and moving piece. And there are times when it is blisteringly funny. My Afrikaans is ok, and I got mostly everything, but I hate the idea that there were words, phrases or concepts that I missed because the script is so dense. Nonetheless, what I did get moved me out of myself and I sat next to my theatre date with tears literally falling off my face.

Take it from me; in a world where I see good theatre all the time, Hol is special, better, more original, more satisfying, more meaningful, more sad, more horrific, more everything. Nicola is unbelievable. Fred and Marcel have done an extraordinary job with direction and design. I don’t know why there was not an overfull house at the Arena (come on Arena, your bar is so pathetic, there wasn’t even an ice block to be had) but here are the exact dates of performance. 18, 22, 24, 26, 30 November and 2 December. The only excuse you have not to see this is if you do not understand a word of Afrikaans or if you are in a coma. Don’t even try and talk to me about theatre if you don’t go and see this. It defines how I think about things theatrical from now on.

*This amazing photo is by Nellis Rietmann

Putting The Tent up at The National Theatre Studio

By megan

On November 9, 2011

In Cape Town, deeply personal, inspiration, me on stage, theatre stuff

Warning; this post includes trumpet blowing of the worst personal kind. I am finding it hard not to glow and radiate with excitement about my upcoming trip to The National Theatre Studio in London for a week of workshopping (and other amazing theatre stuff). This week I received an email describing the plan and our agenda. On Monday and Tuesday there will be introductions and we will get to see plays (awesome). From Wednesday to Friday we will work with our designated directors and actors on rehearsing and then performing a ten minute extract from each of the six plays. These extracts will be performed to an invited audience of theatre people; producers, directors, management. I can hardly believe it.

Then I received an email from the director who will be working on the extract of The Tent. He is Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. Check him out on youtube. He seems really inspired by the play. Honestly, I am blown away by this opportunity. Here is a reminder picture from the production we mounted at Artscape in 2009.

The Tent revisited

By megan

On September 29, 2011

In Cape Town, me on stage, theatre stuff, writing, xenophobia

While I have always quietly held onto the fact that The Tent was a good play, I had to contend with the usual hard knocks of rejection when it came to staging it again, after the initial commitment and funding that Artscape and the New Writing Programme gave it in 2009.

It being chosen as one of the finalists in the Projecto 34 degrees South Theatre in Translation project was fantastic. Last night though, I received an email from The National Theatre Studio in London letting me know that The Tent had been chosen (from hundreds of submissions) as one of the finalists in their call for African plays. I have been invited to London for a week, to spend time with the other playwrights and to attend a dramaturgy (I am better at spelling that than saying it!) workshop. I am so excited, and deeply proud. Oh dear, this is starting to sound like an award speech. Honestly though, I have a lot of people to thank for believing in this play and getting it out there. Mostly, there is Alfred Rietmann. Alfred, thank you.

CA 12-6, Cape Town Revisited

By megan

On July 2, 2011

In Cape Town, show reviews, theatre stuff

The bar at Artscape’s Arena theatre does not help this show. Last night I came through the main venue where hordes of sparkly, well dressed and lit Afrikaans people dripped over railings waiting to get in to Mannetjies Rue, and The Arena around the corner felt like theatre hell. The door was closed on account of the weather! The miserable barman showed me the two kinds of red wine they had, from horrible labels with screw-top bottles. I passed. (It’s a theatre bar without sherry). There was no music. It smelled of toilets. When I think of The Arena’s heyday, it was the kind of place you could even go to after a show somewhere else in Cape Town, to hang out with the cast of some production or other. You could even dance to the loud music until after midnight in that seedy little black bar. It was a great place to start your own CA 12-6.

Up the stairs I went, too early, because I didn’t want to stay in the foyer. And I’m so glad I did. It gave me a chance to absorb and tweet about Alfred Rietmann’s delicious set. Scaffolding and railings threaded with neon strip lights, still off and dull for the pre-show. A bar, threaded with fairy lights. Dead man body outlines painted in white on an otherwise black, black Â set. I got shivers of theatre anticipation. Yes, I thought. Then the house lights went down, the strip lights came on, and it was beautiful.

CA 12-6 is a devised production, directed by Heinrich Reisenhofer with the Siyasanga Company for Artscape. There is something old fashioned about this style of devised production, reminding me of work I did at drama school all those years ago, reminding me of productions with Mark Fleishman, reminding me of one he devised and directed about the prostitutes of Cape Town…but. Back to the here and now.

In a series of partly interconnected monologues, six actors share their Cape Town night lives with the audience. I was literally taken to the streets of my Cape Town jauling past by them, and I could smell the streets, smoke, clubs, bars, hangouts long gone. I heard the music, shared the conversations shouted at The Lounge, now Zula Bar, the drinks at clubs, the drives, the parking, the pool, the whores, the late night snacks. This production is totally evocative and true, true true.

I loved Anele Sithulweni. Ok, I am biased because I think he is one shit hot young actor. I loved his story, his take, his angle, his action; young black boy from ekasi who has made good and has ‘access’. I loved the honest way his character bridged the city and the township and the painful identity issues it evoked. I loved the questions he asked, and how he answered them. I loved his vision of a night on the town, from Camps Bay to The Bronx, from Long Street to the taxi rank. Mostly, I loved his moves.

I loved Zondwa Njokweni’s prostitute Honey. I heard from Anele after the show that she had ‘a source’ who she researched and it paid off in buckets. She is amazing. She picked two duds from the audience last night (one who wouldn’t come up, and one who tried to ‘act’) and she still pulled it all off. Loved her.

I enjoyed Lee Roodt’s stand-up comic, although I wasn’t sure he felt like he was in the same play sometimes. Stylistically it jarred. Michael Inglis’s character, the accidental photographer and night time voyeur felt like he had to carry the weight of the play (and I’m not sure that he did, or had to, it just felt like that). His character was from Joburg, and I think he needed to be more from Joburg. Both him and Melissa Haiden were ok in their parts but they were slightly shown up by Anele and Zondwa who were so truly connected. Frans Hamman played puppeteer to a street child puppet and he was the least successful of all, which was a little disappointing because of the amazing visual promise his appearance set up. All the way through he slinks and crawls around the edges of vision, an image of the ever present homeless on Cape Town’s street, with what looks like a miserable baby in his arms. Scary and sad. Unfortunately his puppet skills weren’t great and his monologue was a bit disjointed.

That’s the detail of it, which only gives half a picture. The lovely thing about this show is that I was immersed. I enjoyed watching it. I was irritated that some audience members left, until I realised that for them the subject matter might be a bit rough, and I hadn’t even schemed of it! It is an evocative, gritty, intelligent, connected piece of home grown, totally Cape Town piece of shivery live theatre. Fight against the difficult title, the horrible bar and the fact that things are quiet on a Cape Town winter’s night. Go. See. It. Let’s relive CA 12-6.

Theatre Theatre

By megan

On March 21, 2011

In Cape Town, theatre stuff

The Fleur du Cap awards are the funniest things. I love the occasion, with everyone all dressed up, and all the pretty drinks and theatre sexiness and air kisses. I love Artscape as a fdc venue. It is just the right balance of totally over the top excess and kitch, and tacky theatre threadbare. Love it.

I love all the mixed emotions and happinesses and joys and even the disappointments and disagreements in opinion and results. “How could they have?” is replaced by “Now he deserves it” in the very next award. Personal favourites are rooted for in spite of the public trend. Some awards are surprises; coming totally out of the blue, and others are the ‘same old same old’ predictable.

I love the acceptance speeches, covering the whole emotional spectrum from political outburst to smothering supplication. I love Alan Committie. He is the best emcee.

I love that theatre is given this one night to indulge in the wild dream that it is valid, glamorous, successful and meaningful.

Well done and bravo to all those who were nominated, and all those who won, especially those of you I know, love and am proud of. You know who you are.

Featured Actor 1

By megan

On December 10, 2010

In Cape Town, me on stage, theatre stuff

I really don’t think the extraordinary cast of Good Will Acting is getting enough attention, and I’m going to try and do my bit to fix that. For the next four days I am going to write a ‘feature’ on each one of them, totally from my point of view, because this is my blog, and I can!

Today we will be featuring the only man in the cast; Anele Situlweni. Anele walked into his audition for the industrial theatre job I was casting for with an earnest intensity that was undercut only by his natural charm and easygoing ‘vibe’. He had a combination of skills and attributes that made him the perfect choice for the job. Young, cute, warm, friendly and super talented. He played a relatively low status character in the industrial theatre job; someone who needed to appeal to the target audience and someone who they could relate to. He managed this with flying colours.

When we decided that Anele would play Ras the Rasta in Good Will Acting he took instantly to the idea, and he had tons to offer. In fact, he wrote reams of stuff that was totally brilliant and really hard to not put in when we were editing; there is probably enough really funny and original Ras stuff to do a one man show about him.

I find it so funny that Anele’s performance of a Rasta is so good that people think he is really like that, and that he is actually a Rasta in real life! The nicest thing about working with Anele is that he is a very generous performer. And he is properly hilarious. Next year he is going to be working with Siyasanga, based at Artscape and I really think everyone needs to ‘keep an eye on this guy’ as Tabatha would say. He is going to be going places and I am delighted that I got a chance to play with him.

Megan's Head

A place where Megan gets off her head.

Tag: Artscape (Page 2 of 4)

Hol hol hol

Putting The Tent up at The National Theatre Studio

The Tent revisited

CA 12-6, Cape Town Revisited

Theatre Theatre

Featured Actor 1

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