Steyn du Toit
THE second University of Stellenbosch Drama Department #versTHOMmend! festival wrapped up at the weekend. Providing a platform for current students and young professionals from the department, the programme staged at the HB Thom Theatre consisted of 12 stunning productions.
“When in doubt… Sally Field,” the audience are advised at the beginning of Wessel Pretorius’s Waterpas.
Staged by former students of the department, this “study in insanity” then proceeds to see its cast act out a series of satirical sketches in and around a water-filled bathtub.
From chronicling the lifelong relationship between two gay swans, to executing a series of lewd suggestions with pool noodles, it’s one thrilling, wet and existential free-for-all.
Directed by Christiaan Olwagen and starring Pretorius alongside Francois Jacobs, Hannah Borthwick, Roeline Daneel and De Klerk Oelofse, Waterpas has played to great and controversial acclaim at local festivals. Similar to a Monty Python sketch, there are no sacred cows here – most notably when it comes to religion and sexuality. But for those willing to look beyond their own egos, several honest insights into this absurdity we call life are expressed by this group of exciting young theatre makers.
Olwagen also directed Tjop en Dop at #versTHOMmend! in which one of the characters from his 2012 play, N is Vir Neurose, finds himself around a braaivleis with two friends. After the opening scene’s testosterone-fuelled sex talk about conquests that most likely never happened, a spanner is thrown into the works by the unexpected arrival of a young woman.
Named Dawie, Rooies en Blikkies (a reference to the popular Trompie en die Boksombende children’s book series), the friends are suddenly forced to drop their Jack-the-lad routines. But while the results are hilarious at first, similar to the aroma of the chicken they are braaing on stage, serious issues of friendship and manhood soon start filling the theatre. Boasting another stellar cast – made up of Oelofse, Carel Nel, Ludwig Binge and Cintaine Schutte – the result is a poignant, present-time theatrical experience.
The final two festival productions staged by former students were Beter as Niks as a series of comedic skits written by, and starring, Elisha Zeeman and Llandi Beeslaar, as well as Quartet, East German playwright Heiner Müller’s 1981 stage adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos’s The Dangerous Liaisons.
When it came to the programme’s current student component, promising and stouthearted performances were delivered by all. Directed by Marthinus Basson, Melk en Vleis sees a 35-year-old actuary (Marina Albertyn) trade her independence and high-earning career for rural Northern Cape after falling in love with a farmer (Milan Struwig).
The daughter of a professor in ancient studies, we meet her six years and one child into their marriage. Trapped in a world where women are valued according to their baking skills and “knowing their place”, she is gradually pushed further over the edge by her interfering mother-in-law and self-serving husband who quotes from the Bible as justification for his transgressions. Through her well-written script that combines elements of Tennessee Williams and Greek tragedy, Albertyn utterly convinces as a woman whose tragic story parallels that of Medea.
I’m excited to see her career progression in local theatre in the coming years.
Two established English plays, written by John and Godber, were directed for #versTHOMmend! by Rufus Swart.
Both set during the mid-1980s, S hakers and Bouncers are often seen as companion pieces. And while chunks of their respective texts are admittedly starting to feel dated, both pieces nonetheless provide a great showcase opportunity for young performers because of rapid dialogue, accents, physical movements and as a challenge to stand out in an ensemble.
Set in a trendy cocktail bar in the north of England, Shakers tracks four waitresses over the course of one busy Friday night. Apart from commenting on issues of higher aspirations, dead-end jobs and being objectified, the four actresses – Dinie Basson, Lara de Villiers, Madelein Joubert and Esther van Zyl – are also required to act the roles of various other of the restaurant’s customers. While all four delivered memorable performances, I found myself most often drawn to Van Zyl’s natural and infectious stage manner.
Performed back to back, the boys get their turn after interval in Bouncers. The third most performed UK playwright during the mid-1990s, Godber this time round sets the action in a downmarket nightclub protected from the outside by four bouncers. Flexing their muscles and rocking in their big-collared 1980s suits, Shaun Peters, François Maree, Lyndon Stratford and Bradley Ware-Lane are also required to pull off a series of accents, scuffles, one-liners and revelations into the human condition. Maree, in particular, gave a noteworthy performance.
Featuring a compilation of new work created by second- and third-year students, Conversent Bodies consists of physical duets and trios that draw on contact improvisation techniques. Performed to various soundtracks – including nature sounds, the A merican Horror Story theme song and even dead silence – each of the difficult pieces have a distinct emotional feel and were executed with commendable concentration and dedication.
Two hillbilly cousins find themselves fishing for dinner in Fishing Trip. Directed by Jaco van Niekerk in a script he wrote alongside Janet Vermaak and Jami-Lee van Rensburg, we learn that today is their joint birthday and they’re spending it in each other’s company after everyone else forgot about it. A production where what you see is exactly what you get, Fishing Trip is best enjoyed for its performances and sense of humour.
Along with a children’s production, Mienkie en die Bosdwer g, directed by Dr Petrus du Preez, two of Samuel Beckett’s works were also designed and staged in this programme section by Stefan Benadé. They were Stroht se Laaste Band, starring Jaco van Niekerk as the man who hauls out an old tape recorder on his 69th birthday, as well as Happy Days, featuring Van Niekerk alongside Lise Steyn as the immortal Willie and Winnie.