The Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at the University of KwaZulu-Natal hosts a concert by Dutch guitarist Jim Gorissen on Wednesday, July 29 at 6 pm. Continue reading
UKZN
A modernised Caveman for South African audiences
Tim Plewman’s popular one-man show Defending the Caveman is coming to venues across the country, fresh from the 41st National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Continue reading
Don’t miss Snoopy!!! at the Sneddon
REHEARSALS for KickStArt Theatre Company’s production of Snoopy!!! The Musical have started. The show opens at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on August 7. Continue reading
Celebration of cinema at DIFF 2015
This July sees the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) return for its 36th year of cinematic celebration.
From July 16 to 26 there will be more than 200 screenings in nine venues across the city, as well as an extensive workshop and seminar programme in which industry experts from around the world share their knowledge and skills.
KZN student productions at the National Arts Festival
DURBAN University of Technology will present Behind Closed Minds at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
Written and directed by Farrell Drew, the play offers a dramatic and emotionally powerful story. It is a dark and soul-questioning piece that touches on issues such as loyalty, injustice and the misuse of power.
Behind Closed Minds is centred on the lives of Dr Victor Duval, his wife and assistant Anita, and the patients who were released into their care. The play seeks to examine a side to hypnotherapy that has yet to be explored, while revealing how the selfishness of one man destroyed the lives of all those who trusted him.
The play will be staged in the Rehearsal Room at 11.30 am on July 7 and 2.30 pm on July 8. Tickets are R45 (concessions R35).
Also staging a work in the student drama festival is the University of KwaZulu-Natal Durban. Ashes to Ashes, written and directed by Camilla Rogers, is a political satire that ridicules the actions of our political leaders and law enforcers, while acting out a robbery.
The play will be staged in the Rehearsal Room at 5 pm on July 6 and 8 pm on July 7. Tickets are R45 (R35 concessions).
Bookings are open and can be made via the website:http://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Ticketing call centre: 0860 002 004
Pick up a Festival programme and booking kit from selected Standard Bank and Exclusive Books. The full programme is online athttp://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
Review: Shrek The Musical
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Gorgeous in every way: great sets, costumes and performances make it a must-see show
Review: Shrek The Musical
Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre,
UKZN, Durban
UKZN, Durban
KICKSTART Theatre Company’s Shrek The Musical is big, green and fabulous.
Artistic director Steven Stead says it’s the most expensive show the award-winning Durban company has produced and, having seen it, I can believe it.
Designer Greg King has pulled out all the stops to create a myriad gorgeous sets, puppets and a gigantic love-sick dragon (voiced by Shelley McLean and manipulated by Peter Court).
The Broadway musical is based on the DreamWorks animation filmShrek, and tells the story of a solitary ogre (played by Lyle Buxton) who is forced to leave his comfy swamp when it’s invaded by a host of fairy-tale characters including Pinocchio, the Three Bears, the Three Little Pigs, a Wicked Witch, the Big Bad Wolf, Peter Pan, the Ugly Duckling, the Fairy Godmother, the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Shoemaker’s Elf.
They have been evicted from their homes in the Kingdom of Duloc by the controlling — and diminutive — Lord Farquaad, brought to life in a superb performance by Cobus van Heerden who spends almost every scene he is in on his knees. His song and dance number What’s Up Duloc? is a triumph.
Shrek decides to confront Farquaad and along the way (reluctantly) teams up with a talkative Donkey, played by Rory Booth, whose scene-stealing performance is a joy to watch.
I especially loved the number Make a Move, in which Donkey does a bit of a James Brown/Steve Wonder number while accompanied by the Three Blind Mice.
But I digress. When Shrek and Donkey arrive in Duloc, Farquaad decides to use the ogre to rescue Princess Fiona from her dragon-guarded tower so that he can marry her and become king. In return, he promises to give Shrek his swamp back.
This pair of unlikely heroes soon rescue the feisty princess, played by Jessica Sole, who has a great vocal range and wonderful comedic timing. But things get complicated when Shrek and Fiona fall for each other on the way back to Duloc.
Shrek The Musical is packed full of toe-tapping show tunes, hilarious references to other musicals, including Disney’s The Lion King, and moments which will live long in the memory — Shrek and Fiona’s farting and burping contest and Gingy the Gingerbread Man’s “torture” scene spring to mind.
Stead has drawn wonderful performances from his talented leads and ensemble. And together with King and his creative team of Tina le Roux (lighting), Stephanie Pais (sound) and Shanti Naidoo (the enormous array of colourful costumes), they have created the biggest, brightest musical comedy you’re likely to see this year.
Theatre goers simply cannot afford to miss Shrek The Musical, and if you don’t leave the theatre humming along to Neil Diamond’s I’m A Believer then I’m as big a liar as Pinocchio.
Estelle Sinkins
• Shrek The Musical is being staged at 7 pm, Tuesday to Saturday, and at 2.30 pm on Saturdays and Sundays, at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on the Howard College campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. Booking is at Computicket. Please note: no children under six.
This review was first published in The Witness.
The fairytale characters in Shrek The Musical. Photo: Val Adamson
Shrek (Lyle Buxton) and Princess Fiona (Jessica Sole) in a scene from Shrek The Musical. Photo: Val Adamson
Shrek (Lyle Buxton) and Donkey (Rory) Booth prepare to set off on their adventure in Shrek The Musical. Photo: Val Adamson
Three UKZN shows heading to the National Arts Festival
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THREE shows from the University of KwaZulu-Natal will be presented at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown this year.
They are: the highly successful and acclaimed productions of Woza Albert! and The Island which have been touring around KwaZulu-Natal and the Great Karoo, where The Island was seen and enjoyed by playwright, Athol Fugard, himself.
The Island is also being presented at the National Schools’ Festival later in July.
The other show from UKZN, Match Girl, has been selected to represent the Pietermaritzburg campus at the annual student drama festival at the National Arts Festival.
Match Girl is a modern South African adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson tale of The Little Match Girl.
The story is told through a fusion of performance art, mask work, shadow play, puppetry and physical theatre.
It highlights how we, as a society, have become inured to suffering and poverty, or simply don’t want to acknowledge it.
The production retains the innocence and sentiment of the original story through the use of highly visual theatrical imagery combining modern technology with artistic simplicity.
It is directed by masters student Jessica Killerby, who was responsible for the beautiful environmental piece Her Cradle, which wowed audiences at the Hexagon and Hilton Arts Festival last year.
The cast includes Nompilo Jili, Monique Schoeman, Bongeka Ngubane, Musa Shozi and Sabelo Cele.
Woza Albert! is one of the plays for which South African theatre is best known internationally.
Its style of storytelling has inspired and influenced theatre companies around the world, and it remains one of the most vibrant examples of satirical anti-apartheid South African theatre.
The play asks what would happen if Christ (Morena) came back to 1980s apartheid South Africa. It is primarily a satire that highlights the absurdities of apartheid and displays the talents of two dextrous actors, in this case TQ Zondi and Mpilo Nzimande, who play a range of ordinary characters on the street.
Directed by Peter Mitchell, the production is a high energy explosion of creativity and humour with a dark edge as Morena’s life is relived in an apartheid context.
Pietermaritzburg audiences will be able to see previews of Match Girl and Woza Albert! at the Hexagon Theatre at 6 pm on June 25 and at 6 pm and 7.15 pm on June 26.
A musical duo called Acoustic Assassins, which is also Grahamstown bound, will entertain in The Dive on June 26 at 8.30 pm.
Tickets are R40 (R25 concession) for each show.
— Weekend Witness eXplore Reporter
Where to see these shows in Grahamstown:
• The Match Girl will be staged in the rehearsal room at 11.30 am on July 2 and 5 pm on July 3. Tickets are R45 (R35 concessions).
• Woza Albert! can be seen at the Masonic Back at 4 pm on July 7, 12 noon on July 8, 4 pm on July 9, 2 pm and 10 pm on July 11 and at 10 am on July 12. Tickets are R50 (concessions R45).
• The Island is at the Masonic Back at 4 pm on July 2, 12 noon and 8 pm on July 3, 10 pm on July 4, 2 pm on July 5 and 6 pm on July 6. Tickets are R50 (R45 concessions).
• Acoustiq Assassins are performing at The Vic at 12 noon on July 8, 1 pm on July 9 and 5 pm on July 10. Tickets R50.
TQ Zondi and Mpilo Nzimande star in Woza Albert!
Nompilo Jili in Match Girl.
TQ Zondi and Mpilo Nzimande star in The Island.
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