This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

2nd February 2008

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Wentworth Miller, who plays Michael Scofield in the hit series Prison Break, has candidly admitted that his role (like those of his co-stars) requires a lot of ham acting. And yet Prison Break has captivated audiences across the globe, not least in South Africa. I’m one of those who can’t wait for the third season to be broadcast locally. Still, in trying to understand the great appeal of Prison Break, I find myself looking beyond the obvious criteria of Miller’s good looks, Scofield’s brooding intelligence and our inverted sympathies in the cops’n’robbers chase. Instead, it seems to me that Prison Break draws on the archetypal themes of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. 

This article first appeared in THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

27th January 2008

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It should be easy to review this book. After all, Berold has demonstrated his facility with language as a poet of some standing in South Africa; as editor, anthologist and interviewer he has shown a knack for careful observation and unusual insight. Moreover, China is a fascinating place, and its crucial role in geopolitical and economic affairs is unquestioned. China as experienced by a foreigner (particularly, for local readers, by a South African) is almost guaranteed to be an entertaining, enlightening subject. Unfortunately, for this reviewer, it’s not quite so straightforward.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

26th January 2008

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In Mirror, Mirror – the latest stage offering from Mike van Graan – the author of Bafana Republic turns his satirical gaze from the World Cup in 2010 to the medieval world circa 1020. The play is “set in a time of queens, knights and revolting peasants”, but this element of historical fantasy merely provides a framework for a story that is actually about South Africa.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

19th January 2008

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No doubt, when most people hear the words ‘still life’, the images that come to mind are of apples, pears, grapes and other fruit glistening in a bowl, with perhaps a vase of flowers on the side. Been there, done that, got the art class t-shirt. As an exhibition currently on display at the Old Town House in Cape Town suggests, however, this is only one aspect of a very complex art form.

This article first appeared in THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

20th January 2008

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The castle edifice that dominates the set of Mirror, Mirror prepares us for a tale of kings, queens and chivalrous knights, but it very soon becomes evident that this play is about South African realities. It seems incongruous: a hawker selling hangers and trinkets or begging for money is a familiar sight at our intersections, but this usually involves suburbanites driving SUVs and not nobles trotting on horses. Certainly not horses represented by mops.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

19th January 2008

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It’s a risky business, making plays at Maynardville. Apart from the nightly gamble with the rain, each production faces the challenges attendant on open-air theatre: a gust of wind in a microphone or a police siren in the middle distance breaking the passion or tension of a dramatic moment; the difficulty of creating intimacy and sustaining energy as these dissipate into the trees and the night sky, compounded when performing Shakespeare by the occasional need for over-acting to explain the dense Elizabethan repartee or to make the comedy funny. Still, the permanent stage and seating area that have been constructed in the park provide a rich setting in which, year by year, the actors brave the elements to provide Cape Town’s denizens and summer visitors with a quality production. When it works, the rewards are great.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

19th January 2008

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Rock stars are hardly ever on time. And they’re never early.

But Elton John gave the lie to this stereotype when, ten minutes before he was due to appear onstage at Sahara Park Newlands in Cape Town to kick off his nationwide tour last week (the other concerts were in Durban and Johannesburg), he sauntered out unannounced, gave a brief wave to the still-growing crowd and sat down at the piano.

This article first appeared in THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

30th December 2007

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The Sunday Independent asked me to write a "Top Five" summary of the best of South African theatre in 2007 ...

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

22nd December 2007

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Vusi Mahlasela is not an easy man to track down. Although describing him as ‘itinerant’ wouldn’t quite do justice to his status as one of South Africa’s most widely respected musicians, he does spend a lot of time on the road. After completing a lengthy tour of the United Kingdom, he returned home recently to open the Kirstenbosch summer season of outdoor concerts in Cape Town and, a week later, to join the stellar line-up for 46664 in Johannesburg.

This article first appeared in THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT

23rd December 2007

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The perverse enthusiasm of the tabloid press for the more sordid details of the Taliep Petersen murder trial has, amongst other things, blurred a rather important fact: Petersen was first and last a supremely talented musician, and it is for this that he should be remembered. The Kramer-Petersen Songbook is an attempt to reinforce such assertions; it is not a tribute show per se (although it certainly pays tribute) but rather, according to David Kramer, “It’s about remembering a partnership, and what was achieved in that partnership.”

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

8th December 2007

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Although World AIDS Day is a commemorative and not a celebratory occasion, it was impossible to resist the good vibes at Ellis Park during last weekend’s 46664 concert. It was a musical feast from first (Cassette kicking things off with their unique brand of funk-rock) to last (Annie Lennox with her appropriately paradoxical “Walking On Broken Glass”, its upbeat melody belying lyrics that declare: “Everyone of us is made to suffer, everyone of us is made to weep ...”). For South African musos, it was gratifying as always to see local acts matching international stars for quality: Freshly Ground giving another consummate performance; Arno Carstens proving that he hasn’t gone all soft and smooth as a solo artist; Malaika doing their infectious Afro-pop thing; Goldfish demonstrating that jazz and club anthems make a surprisingly good combination; Just Jinjer returning to their pre-USA roots; even Danny K, showing that he actually can sing, teaming up with the Soweto Gospel Choir.  

But if you listened carefully in between the music – and, as far as I could tell, hardly anyone was – a sopping wet blanket loomed over the festivities.

This article first appeared in THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT 

17th November 2007

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When we meet to discuss the presidential ambitions of Evita Bezuidenhout, Pieter-Dirk Uys reminds me how this remarkable woman came to attain such a high profile in South Africa’s public life. In 1978, Uys couldn’t find his way onto a stage: “The plays I’d performed were banned, the new ones weren’t passing the censor board, and my theatre friends didn’t have the money to fight it. I thought, ‘What am I gonna do?’ And then Koos Viviers, editor of the Sunday Express, said ‘We’d like you to do a column.’ It was during the information scandal (in those days it actually was a scandal when politicians lied!) and PW Botha was coming out of the shadows like Dark Vader.” 

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

17th November 2007

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Primary Coloured: A Novel of Politics
Brent Meersman
(Human & Rousseau)

Brent Meersman hasn’t taken any chances. Readers who can’t quite figure out – after making their way through the 400 pages of his debut novel – why its fictional characters seem so familiar, can punch in the web address printed on the back cover. It’s the book’s blog. There they will find, amongst other things, a link to the Wikipedia entry for roman à clef: “French for ‘novel with a key’. A novel describing real-life events behind a façade of fiction.” Included in the list of examples is Primary Colours, Joe Klein’s book (later a movie starring John Travolta and Emma Thompson) about Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign, from which Primary Coloured takes its punning title and narrative premise.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

3rd November 2007

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Have the fashion industry and the cult of celebrity made our perceptions of beauty irredeemably superficial? Or are the airbrushed images that confront us in the print media and on TV merely reformulations of long-established archetypes? Natasha Norman poses these questions in The Look of Love, which is currently on display at the Bell-Roberts Gallery in Cape Town.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

3rd November 2007

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The cesspit of artificial glitz that is Grand West Casino has one redeeming feature: the Grand Arena, an impressive concert venue that, every so often, plays host to some authentic talent. That was certainly the case earlier this week, when a 3,000-strong crowd was treated to a genuine (jen-yuu-WINE), real-deal star in the form of Gladys Knight, who completed her South African tour in Cape Town after concerts in Jo’burg, Sun City and Durban.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

20th October 2007

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“Two world premieres. Two popular classics. Two groundbreaking versions. One company.” Thus declares the programme for the Isango/Portobello double-bill of A Christmas Carol / IKrismas Kherol and The Magic Flute / Impempe Yomlingo. Well, they are world premieres (the shows travel to the Young Vic in London in November); they are classics, and popular in the full sense of that word – “for the people”; they are, despite certain flaws, truly groundbreaking productions; and, impressively, they are being staged by one cast, one director, one writing team and one crew.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

20th October 2007

Russell Peters has a beef with Chinese people. And Italians. And Arabs. And Jews. And blacks. Come to think of it, there are few ethnic or national or racial groups that are spared a tongue-lashing by this acerbic Canadian comic. The thing is, he does it with such verve and obvious irony that audience members can’t help but laugh – even if they’re the butt of the joke.

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

13th October

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South Africa has a love-hate relationship with those who have left the country to “make it big” elsewhere. From Charlize Theron to Kevin Pietersen, they evoke extreme responses: from pride to disparagement and from envy to pity.

Nowadays, a South African living and working abroad is hardly interesting in itself – perhaps least of all in Britain, given the historical ties between South Africa and the United Kingdom. A South African in London is not unusual; indeed, following recent estimates, there may be anything between a hundred thousand and a million of them. Nevertheless, the months of October and November will see the culmination of (or, at any rate, the addition of another chapter to) a very unusual story about two London-based South Africans.  

This article first appeared in THE WEEKENDER

13th October 2007

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Women Beware Women is a “collaboration” between two celebrated but largely unknown playwrights. If that sounds paradoxical, it’s only appropriate – for this is, in many ways, a puzzling play.

This article first appeared in THE SUNDAY TIMES (Metro)

30th September 2007

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If you don’t already have a ticket for the William Kentridge production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, don’t waste your time by trying to get hold of one now – you’d have more luck buying a ticket for the Rugby World Cup Final in Paris next month. The remarkable popularity of the show, which opens at Johannesburg’s Civic Theatre next Saturday after a 10-day run in Cape Town, bears testimony not simply to the benefits of advance marketing by sponsors Rand Merchant Bank (if only the performing arts were always advertised in cinemas) but, moreover, to the high esteem in which Kentridge is held.