POPArt Centre celebrates 5 years of tangy, razor-sharp theatre
POPArt founders Orly Shapiro & Hayleigh Evans welcome the audience.
POPArt Theatre & Performing Arts Centre celebrated their 5th year in existence this weekend with another instalment of 24 Hours in The City. At 6pm on Friday evening, six writers randomly drew a different genre and began writing six short scripts.
After a speed dating session of sorts between writers, directors and actors, the pieces were cast and rehearsals started on Saturday morning, continuing until 6pm that evening. The end products were a scintillating adventure in dreams, heartache, nostalgia, decadence, laughter and insanity.
Split personalities born from repressed and unfulfilled dreams comfort, and compete for first place in the mind of the main character in A Blemished Mind. In Queens of Yeoville two very different women try very hard to resurrect long-shattered dreams by reminiscing and resenting. Velvet Curtain, a fabulously kitsch soap opera parody featuring Baker Street (UK) as theme song, had the audience in stitches with closeted lesbian lovers, dangerous liaisons, amnesia and attempted murder.
Denel Honeyball & MoMo Matsunyane in Velvet Curtain.
Chris van Rensburg in Leila.
Sound and light effects used in the paranormal noir Leila proved that a stage production can raise the hair on your neck as well as any mystery thriller on screen.
Madness flowered onstage in Who is Michaelangelo?. The audience looks into a flat where a pair of lovers has deteriorated into delusion, isolated irreality and hurtful derision.
Bradley Nowikow, Liswa Ndlovu & Christelle van Graan in Fat Cat.
Kayli Elit in Who is Michaelangelo?
Concluding the evening, Fat Cat – The Musical thrilled the audience with brilliantly exaggerated characters and absurdist metaphors for addiction. Clever, sharp tragicomedy that sidles up to the audience with an ominous sexiness.
Founders Hayleigh Evans and Orly Shapiro have created one of the most edgy cultural spaces in Johannesburg. From the small, poster-clad entranceway that also houses the bar, to the dark performance space where you sit within reach of the acts, POPArt is brimming with all the raw and gritty shimmer of the underground art scene. If that’s something you thought only existed in Paris, London, New York or Berlin, think again – you can find it here at POPArt.
For upcoming shows and events go to https://popartcentre.co.za/ or follow them on:
Facebook: P.O.P. Art
Twitter: @POPArtJHB
Instagram: @popartjhb
