How to reclaim life, one Abba song at a time

WHAT DO YOU need to be able to take your life, warts and all, and explain it from its awkward bullied beginning until today, to a total stranger in a way which makes them laugh and cry and get something out of it? A combination of self-love and […]

A sound to shatter glass

ENERGY HAS A foreverness that completely transcends humanity’s knowledge, explains Salacia, the mermaid, in episode 14 of Martyn le Roux’s serialised podcast, Die Soutwaterheks, which you can find here. She gets Frans and his sea buddies to remember the lessons of Sunday School and understand them differently, as […]

Protocols sweet and salty

EVER HAD THE experience of having a rescue puppy choose you, rather than the other way around? Imagine if an otherworldly being had you in their crosshairs, as a point of interest, for years. A bold melange of the power plays in date rape, and an understanding of […]

Goodies and Baddies

SHE SAID, HE said and the vulnerable young woman servant without a voice hasn’t a chance in a context where she can be labelled one thing and hung for it. Push anyone far and ruthlessly enough with the threat of their worst fears at the price of their […]

Little house in the garden

TAKE THE GENRE of the South African farm novel, throw it in the air with all its idiosyncrasies and hypocrisies, violence and violation, broken promises and trashed dreams, and a great contemporary South African classic is born. Take the work on stage, and a different kind of magic […]

Narcissists and sucker punches

THE RUSH AND thrust of politics can date very easily. Particularly within the ambit of a staged play. In the hands of the makers of James Graham’s Best of Enemies, however, the political narrative surges with lifeblood that is timeless. The public conversation that is the focus of […]

Eat together, stick together

WAR PRESENTS CASUALTIES on levels far wider than the conventional battle fields. There is the horror of a lack of closure, relentless vulnerability and ripples of hatred spewed in so many directions, conjoined as it often is, with ignorance. In The Old Oak, director Ken Loach takes on […]