Simon is still seeing things in G’town. Here’s his latest offering. I missed High Diving when I was last at the fest. And I saw Antoinette’s pic in the Booking Book. She looked amazing. Those are two shows I would have loved to see. Also, David Mamet could be one of my ‘gods of theatre’ so it looks like Simon chose really well.
Friday June 25 – back to the Festival after a “day off†on Thursday.  And man oh man, what a day !!!   Lots more people around – good – and “LONDON ROAD†posted sold out signs for the first time plus I saw 3 excellent productions.
Starting with Antoinette Kellerman’s “MAN TO MANâ€, directed by Marthinus Basson – dealing with the life of a woman, who to survive in the time of the Weimar Republic takes over her dead husband’s identity [and gender] and who lives the rest of a life as a man, the play is powerful, complex, moving and brilliantly performed – again mention of Braam du Toit’s sound must be made as it complements and highlights the story.  A packed Rhodes Theatre was held enthralled for 90 minutes as Ms Kellerman held them in her considerable thespian grasp – her accent never slipped, her mastery of the text and the set and how she used them both was extraordinary.   Wow.
Then on to PJ’s to meet up with one of my best friends, Mike, and his fiancée, Chrissie, who had just arrived – first up for them and next for me was “BOSTON MARRIAGE†– a David Mamet play featuring Claire Mortimer, Janna Ramos Violante and Belinda Henwood.  So called from a term coined after Henry James’s novel Boston Marriage denoting a relationship between two females that may involve both physical and emotional intimacyâ€, the play deals with 2 women who in such a relationship and the troubles that come their way when the younger one falls in love with a [never seen] young girl who happens to be the daughter of the older woman’s “sugar daddyâ€Â – as you can see a Boston marriage is not an exclusive relationship, it seems.  “BOSTON MARRIAGE†is very funny [actually witty might be a better word] and moves at a pace that exhausts even the audience.  The one liners are brilliant and all 3 performers are outstanding.
Last on the agenda was “HIGH DIVING†featuring the incomparable James Cairns in about 6 roles, Toni Morkel, Deborah Da Cruz and Roberto Pombo. Jenine Collocott wrote and directs the play.    Following the lives of two young people making their way in modern day Johannesburg, the play is about hopes and ambitions, sometimes shattered sometimes not, about opportunities lost and taken and about learning lessons.  But lest you think that it all sounds very serious, it is also very funny and James Cairns and Toni Morkel [also in a variety of guises] excel.  Janni Younge’s silhouette puppets and the original music composed by Andrew Ord with lyrics by Nick Warren and performed by Andrew Ord and Roberto Pombo all add considerably to another great Festival show.
I, on the other hand, am enjoying the theatre desert that Cape Town is, while G’town happens.
Last night was the ‘world premiere’, as Simon Cooper (owner of 
I can’t believe it but it’s true. In just over two months Noah of Cape Town, the most brilliant, original, local, never before done, futuristic, a capella musical opens at