A not-to-be-missed Afrikaans season of two acclaimed dramas and a comedy at the Baxter this January and February, starting with Jaco Bouwer’s award-winning Samsa-masjien, which won the ATKV-Woorveertjie for Drama.
The Baxter Theatre Centre kicks off its 2015 programme during January and February with an Afrikaans season showcasing two hugely acclaimed dramas and a comedy, with all three productions featuring all-star casts.
Jaco Bouwer’s award-winning Samsa-masjien, which won the ATKV-Woorveertjie for Drama, takes to the Baxter’s Flipside stage from 16 to 31 January at 8.15pm.
Sama-masjien made its debut at the Absa Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK) last year, where it received the Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director awards as well as the Herrie prize for ‘mind-shifting’ work. Bouwer was honoured for his contribution to ‘new thinking’ in Afrikaans theatre.
Conceptualised by Jaco Bouwer and Willem Anker and written by Anker, Samsa-masjien aims to engage in a dialogue with Franz Kafka’s Die Verwandlung (Metamorphosis). Like Gregor in the Kafka story, in Samsa-masjien Gregor senior, a retired biology teacher and principal (played by Gerben Kamper) is suffering from dementia. As a result, he and his wife Josephine (played by Antoinette Kellermann) live with their daughter Grete (Ilana Cilliers) and her husband Tjaart (Ludwig Binge) in their luxury modern home in a suburb similar to Sandton. Gregor undergoes a systematic becoming-insect, which psychologists, psychiatrists and doctors ascribe to the auditory and tactile hallucinations common to dementia patients. Gregor sees insects everywhere, feels them walking on him and eventually feels himself becoming something both less and more than human.
Diane de Beer for Argus Tonight wrote: “As radical, trail-blazing theatre, it begs to be seen. This extravagant and extraordinary production is an onslaught on the senses as it invades and expands the mind,” while Laetitia Pople from Die Burger said, “a total onslaught of the senses … Bouwer’s visual offering is a sure hit.”
From 20 January to 7 February, in the Baxter’s Golden Arrow Studio, television favourites Vinette Ebrahim and Chris van Niekerk will delight in the comedy Die Ongelooflike Reis van Max en Lola at 8.15pm nightly.
Marthinus Basson’s epic macbeth.slapeloos, which is performed in Afrikaans with English surtitles, will run in the Baxter Theatre from 4 to 21 February at 7.30pm.
WHERE: Baxter Theatre Centre, Main Road, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7700
TICKETS: Computicket on 0861 915 8000, online or at any Shoprite Checkers outlet. For discounted corporate, schools or block-bookings, charities or fundraisers, contact Sharon on 021 680 3962, email sharon.ward@uct.ac.za or Carmen on 021 680 3993, email carmen.kearns@uct.ac.za.
