Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Applause for KickstArt’s celebration of Sondheim

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From left: Puppeteer Brandon Moulder with Milky White the cow, Jack (Graeme Wicks), the Baker’s Wife (Jessica Sole) and The Baker (Bryan Hiles). Photos: Val Adamson

DURBAN theatre company, KickstArt, walked away with three Naledi Awards in Johannesburg recently for their dark and brooding staging of Stephen Sondheim’s blood-drenched classic Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Meanwhile, at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Howard College campus in Durban, the company is hosting its first production of 2016, another iconic Stephen Sondheim production, the musical fairy tale parable for grown-ups: Into the Woods. Continue reading →

All the Naledi Theatre Awards winners

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Naledi award-winners Fiona Ramsay and Janna Ramos-Violante in Doubt.

VETERAN actress, Fiona Ramsay, made history on Tuesday, April, when she won the best lead performance in a play (female) for two different plays – Doubt and Miss Dietrich Regrets at the prestigious Naledi Theatre Awards at the Lyric Theatre in Gold Reef City, Johannesburg.

Her co-star in Doubt, Janna Ramos-Violante, won the best supporting actress award. She was one of several actors and companies with links to KwaZulu-Natal who enjoyed a great night at the awards ceremony. Continue reading →

It’s time to go Into the Woods with KickStArt

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The cast of Into the Woods. Photo: Val Adamson

I remember sending a message to Steven Stead, artistic director of KickStArt Theatre Company, after seeing Disney’s film version of Into the Woods whether he had plans to do a stage version. He just said ‘watch this space’.

This week Durban theatregoers get to see Into the Woods on stage at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on the University of KwaZulu-Natal Howard College campus from April 15 to May 1. I for one cannot wait to see Stephen Sondheim’s classic and I urge all my friends and family in Durban and Maritzburg to go and see it. Continue reading →

KZN well represented in the Naledi Award nominations

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A Voice I Cannot Silence. Picture by Sithasolwazi Kentane (CuePix) 4

Clare Mortimer and Ralph Lawson in A Voice I Cannot Silence at the 2015 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. The play, directed by Greg Homann, is based on the life, stories and poems of Alan Paton. (Photo: CuePix/Sithasolwazi Kentane)

THE nominees for the Naledi Awards 2016 – which will take place at the Lyric Theatre in Johannesburg on April 19 – have been revealed and according to executive director, Dawn Lindberg, the standard has never been higher.

Several Durbanites are in the running for this year’s awards including KickStArt Theatre Company’s Steven Stead for Sweeney Todd and Little Shop of Horrors, Greg King, Tina le Roux, Neil Stuart Harris, Charon Williams-Ros for Sweeney Todd, Caroline Smart for Hinterland and Clare Mortimer and Menzi Mkhwane for A Voice I Cannot Silence.

Short, Stories, Alive, the Nobulali Productions show, directed by former Durban resident, Neil Coppen, is also nominated; as is former Durban actress Janna Ramos-Violante, who gets a nomination for her work in Doubt. Continue reading →

Don’t miss Sweeney Todd at Montecasino

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Jonathan Roxmouth stars in Sweeney Todd.

Jonathan Roxmouth stars in Sweeney Todd.

Pieter Toerien and KickstArt present Steven Sondheim’s iconic musical thriller Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre until November 29.

This dark 1979 Tony Award-winner for best musical features music and lyrics by Sondheim and is based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond.

The story centres on Sweeney Todd, whose real name is Benjamin Barker. He uses his new alias to resume work in his barber shop above Mrs. Lovett’s struggling pie shop after being wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment by the corrupt Judge Turpin.

After swearing vengeance against the judge that tore his family apart, Todd and Lovett plot a unique plan that helps them both and leads them down a dangerous, thrilling path with deadly consequences.

Featuring sublime theatrics, a thrilling, chilling story, suspense, passion, deliciously dark humour, with a score and lyrics that have taken on iconic status, directed and designed by the award-winning KickstArt team of Steven Stead and Greg King, and starring Jonathan Roxmouth and Charon Williams-Ros, it doesn’t get any better than Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd!

Tickets cost R350, R250, R150 and R100. Booking is through Computicket at 011 340 8000 or Theatre Box Office at 011 511 1818.

Performances: Wednesday to Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 4 pm and 8 pm, and Sunday at 3 pm.