Represent Review: Steve Hofmeyr @ Emperor’s
Love him or hate him, Steve Hofmeyr is one of the country’s most successful artists and without a doubt has sweated and persevered through the years to maintain his position as Afrikaans music’s golden boy. Word has it he is also a serious blogger with a massive following (here) – we like the digital touch Steve. SO we sent off one of our Representah’s to check him out in a Kris Kristofferson tribute at Emperor’s Palace. Thanks to Werner for the review: Steve Hofmeyr – Help me make it through the night. Date and time : Wednesday, May 16, 2007 – Saturday, June 02, 2007 Cost : Tickets from R120 Property : Emperors Palace Venue : Theatre of Marcellus I recently had the wonderful opportunity of attending a Steve Hofmeyr performance at Emperor’s Palace. The production was based on Kris Kristofferson classics and was named “Help me make it through the night”. I’m extremely glad to report that as per usual, we were not disappointed. In fact, it just proved once again that South Africa is filled to the brim with incredible talent. Steve transported us to an era where nothing but music mattered and did so with his usual charming and cool demeanor. During the performance he revived some of the Kris Kristofferson classics in such a way that even the original artist would have been proud. It turns out that I am in fact a closet Kris fan after all! Steve explained that Kris was one of his fathers all time favorite performers and after the hour long performance, I think many people could see why. Kris is an incredible performer himself, but I think the part that impressed me most was his absolutely amazing life. He dated Janis Joplin for quite a while and as we all know, that was no mean feat. He was nominated for an Oscar and for a BAFTA award and has won a Golden Globe! He even landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash’s front lawn to get his attention! Steve would have made this legend a very proud man with his absolutely superb performance. Steve is well known for his very distinctive voice and I’m sure that everyone that attended the night would agree that he would have been the number one pick to perform the Kris classics. I found the entire production incredibly moving and once Steve explained the father connection it made a lot of sense – I wish that he had started the performance rather than ending it with his explanation, but it didn’t deter from the absolute pleasure in any way. Something else that struck me about the night, was the...
Represent Review: The Maids @ WITS
Sharpile Linda for the review – catch The Maids at WITS before the 26th May: Do yourself a favour – read the play by Jean Genet (or read something about it) before you go and watch this stage adaptation. The opening scenes are vague, abstract. I felt a bit lost in the beginning, but I was fine again when I eventually realised that there were two characters playing each of the maids. The first scene opens in a boudoir, opulent with red velvets white lace and flowers, where the two maids, Solange and Claire (played by four characters) take turns acting out the part of their employer, Madame. This ritual, which they perform nightly, is great parody, mimicking and exaggerating Madame’s whims and irrational demands – almost reminiscent of our own “Madam and Eve”, only more sinister. In the maids’ game, they try to kill Madame. Madame is obnoxious and completely self-absorbed, languishing after her lover (Monsieur) who is in prison because a whistleblower alerted the police to his involvement in shady dealings. The master/slave relationship is depicted with poignancy and depth. The maids envy Madame’s lifestyle and wealth, but pity her loneliness and are at turns amused and disgusted by her condescending attitude towards them. Madame is plagued by guilt and sometimes irritation at the maids’ obsequiousness, but also has a malicious streak. In one scene she gives them gifts – a fine evening gown and a fur coat, but soon changes her mind and takes the gifts back, paying scant attention to the maids’ humiliation and disappointment. The maids’ imaginary desire to kill Madame has self-destructive consequences for them, but I won’t give away the story. The acting is superb and there are some really intense moments. The play has some powerful messages about the imbalance of power in domestic workers’ relationships with their employers. In one scene, Claire makes a profound statement, “her joy feeds off our shame”, which certainly gave me pause for thought. I would love for someone to take the bold step of adapting this to a South African context. Catch this play at the Wits Amphitheatre from 16th to 26th May. Tickets at Computicket....
Represent Review: MoLoRa @ the Market
Sitting in the cosy enclave of the Barney Simon theatre on press night at award-winning writer and director Yael Farber’s play MoLoRa is no mean feat for an amateur. Leaning forward all around you sit wizened thespians cuddled up close to expectant theatre journo’s, whose concentrating faces you recognise from the little photo’s next to their columns. As the lights went down I felt like a bit of a fraud amongst the aficionados, for although I studied Drama and have spent a lot of my life popping in and out of theatres, I ain’t no expert. The subject is “Yael Farber’s acclaimed adaptation of the Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus, set in a contemporary South African context.” It’s a complicated story and somewhat unknown tale – we found it to be a challenging play to review… we’ve been struggling to eloquently word what we felt. But review it we must and review it from the POV of the everyday man and citizen journo we must do too. It’s the only way we know how. Firstly, let’s talk about the great things about Molora, starting with the the powerful soundscape provided by a group of animated and delightful older Xhosa musicians (gogo’s!). They are as much a part of the story as the lead characters, providing textured and haunting mood changes and at times a poignant, eery, mystical soundtrack through traditional instruments and an incredible split-tone guttural singing style. Watching and listening to them one is easily transported to a deep-rooted Xhosa gathering in the green hills of the Eastern Cape – their music weaving it’s tribal rhythms through the narrative… Then there’s the set which was minimalist but craftily designed around the story’s needs, with the numerous performers feeling comfortable on a small stage – the clever use of the space and it’s flexibility allowed us the freedom to fill in the gaps with our imagination. Our favourite moment was when the young muscular Oresties swings in slow motion on a handle around the stage, mesmerising… The lighting design was superb, moving from harsh neon glare to deep and intimate warm isolated scenes. The performance was highly energetic and very physical and loud – the part of the daughter, Electra was a gallant effort by Jabulile Tshabalala, who put enormous concentration and her soul into her demanding role. Sandile Matsheni played the smaller role of Orestes, wearing the emotions of his character artfully. The part that we were confused by was that played by Dorothy Anne Gould who appeared to be over-acting and over-playing her character in an almost amateur-theatre style. “Look at how cross and mad I look, listen to how deep my angry voice...
Represent Review: Triptych @ the Market
Thanks to Debs our resident Represent theatre guru for her time and words: A triptych (pronounced “trip-tick) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) which is divided into three sections. The central panel is the most important one, and this is flanked on either side by two lesser but related paintings. The whole is intended to be greater than the sum of the parts. Wikipedia This aptly named play is currently showing at the Market Theatre. It is a play about three women: a wife, a daughter and a mistress. Each is in love with the same man: the husband, father and lover. To continue the theme, I suppose that it is appropriate that I should be in ‘three minds’ about the play. Let me break it down… Edna O’Brien’s writing is clever, funny; ironic and heartbreaking. This makes for a very solid script and foundation for the show, giving the play a wonderful balance of laughs and tragedy. The design, both for production (Nadya Cohen) and costume (Margo Fleisch), is innovative and interesting, yet functional.The configuration of the performance space, a passage with audience on either side, creates the illusion of constant transition and passing of time. The costumes have been carefully selected to give an insight into the characters through their individual style of dress. The star of the show, and the main character/central panel, is brilliantly portrayed by Terry Norton. She is captivating. She has a very light touch, allowing us the luxury of choosing how we feel about her character. She doesn’t ever seem to say ‘watch this part, this is really sad!!!’ or ‘This is very funny’. She just flows between the two with ease and we flow with her. Her co-star is the incomparable Dorothy Ann Gould; she plays the other woman – magnetic, skilful and powerful. She speaks volumes with her silence. It must be a real privilege to share the stage with these great actresses, but this is a double edged sword, it only serves to highlight ones inexperience and limitation. Cody Caprari is the 16 year old actress who plays the daughter; it’s a good try but she still has a long way to go. All the ingredients are there, I’m just not absolutely sure the batter has been fully blended. Perhaps the show needs to run in a little more or perhaps the Director has taken the cake out of the oven a little early. That said; the play has been playing on my mind since. I’m glad I saw it, catch it if you can. TRIPTYCH 6 April – 6 May 2007 Market Theatre – Barney...
DOUBLE REVIEW! Ain’t Misbehavin @ the Market
Editorista got a little mixed up with dates and sent TWO reviewers to the Market Theatre to check out the musical Ain’t Misbehavin… The best part about this review is that one of the ladies is an accomplished musical theatre performer and the other is a big fan of musical theatre…which means they each had a very different POV. Thanks to Heather and Debs for your reviews – check out what they … had to say: THE LISTENER – HEATHER I have to start this review with a confession. I am tone deaf and know nothing of the Harlem Renaissance or Stride Piano. However, I can say that if you are looking for an entertaining, upbeat show to see before this Festive season – check out this chock-full-of-talent production. Most of the songs are instantly recognizable and will have you tapping your toes all along. From the very first number of “Ain’t Misbehavin’ I got that feeling of “this is going to be great” and I wasn’t let down. Some of the artists are known in different capacities such as actors, voice artists, dancers or back-up vocals, but I was amazed at how talented they all are as real, live, singing, dancing, comedic performers. Gillian Bhudal has a fabulous presence and her rendition of “Yacht Club Swing” was a hoot. A highlight of the show for me was Earl Gregory doing the “The Viper’s Reefer Song – somewhat out of the ordinary from the other numbers, but a great performance. An artist to look out for is Molebatsi Lekgetha who has incredible energy and a great voice. The humour in the lyrics is well portrayed by the ensemble and with some of the less recognizable numbers, I would have loved to have had a copy of the lyrics to read. I mean really&.. Who’s that walkin’ round here, Mercy Sounds like baby patter, baby elephant patter thats what I calls it Say up in Harlem at a table for two There were four of us, me, your big feet and you From your ankles up, I’d say you sure look sweet From there down there’s just too much feet Yes, your feets too big Don’t want ya, cause ya feets too big Who else writes such witty lyrics? (I think that if it hadn’t been opening night, the audience would have started to sing along&) The lighting was subtle and complemented the performance very well. I did find the band a bit tucked away and I got the feeling they were a little cramped. It would have been great to see more of the piano player, after all, Fats...
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