A freelance arts writer since 1998, I fell in love with the theatre as a toddler, proved rubbish as a ballerina: my starring role was as Mrs Pussy in Noddy as a seven-year-old, and earned my stripes as an academic in Fine Arts and Art History, in subsequent years. I write for a range of online and print publications, including the Sunday Times, the Mail & Guardian and artslink.co.za and was formerly the arts editor of the SA Jewish Report, a weekly newspaper with which I was associated for 16 years. I am currently a Research Associate at Wits University. This blog promises you new stories every week, be they reviews, profiles, news stories or features.
Now in her sixties and not afraid to take hold of the world with both hands, Elzabe Zietsman’s revue comprises a mêlée of songs which she has penned and others she has moulded to fit South Africa’s unique levels of hypocrisy, hatred and hope, sometimes all in the same breath.
The narrative of ‘A Streetcar’ is rich with tropes central to the South African taxi industry, and its complex social and economic history. Listen to the discourse. Taxiology in South Africa is a real thing, about spicy micro-narratives and social protocol as well as about God, the universe and everything.
In this show, Thamm riffs on about the Guptas’ exposure and the all-seeing eyes of DA leader, Helen Zille. She talks a million miles a second of the insane outcomes of everything from Covid legislation to stolen billions of Rands and whistle-blowers, who have shaped (and saved) this country’s face.
In the hands of one of South African theatre’s dream teams, this is a gem of a work. Job Kubatsi and Lebohang Motaung, in minor roles, give life to the bitter jokes that lubricated black society during the darkest days of apartheid, reminiscent of the bleak humour in Dostoevsky’s novels.
My Brilliant Divorce a tale which features everything from the secret medical horrors that eating too much beetroot brings, to the mortifying business of buying a dildo for the first time. Normington sparkles with credibility and her own wonderful sense of the ridiculous and under Committie’s direction. it’s pure delight.
‘Grounded’ is a knock-out of a work featuring the magnificent Canadian mezzo soprano Emily d’Angelo, that offers a take on female identity in the man’s world of war and aggression. It breaks fresh ground with contemporary technology and will blow your mind with its take on moral trauma and complexity.
The Motive and the Cue is as much about the hierarchy and debauched embarrassing nature of theatremakers, who feed off one another’s intimacies as it is about the greatness they can produce when under the spotlight and in the spell of the work itself. Beautifully staged, it is a treat.
Occasionally a theatrical work sees light of day and it comes with a shimmer of value from afar. Just by the mention of its name. We’ve been hearing reverberations of Lucy Barton for months, while it has toured nationally. See it today, if it is the only show you see.
This is opera at its best … prepare yourself for a total treat, for the ears, eyes and soul. It will replenish you, even if you are not familiar with the work, or the medium of opera.
When it comes to the marvellous Elzabe Zietsman performing ‘Routrip’, in pure, beautiful, unapologetic Afrikaans, in this city at last, you just have to switch off the social media, disregard your diary and simply go. It performs at 3pm at The Studio Theatre, Montecasino in Fourways on 20 October 2024.
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