Mike van Graan in the tradition of his award-winning Pay Back the Curry, State Fracture and Land Acts, My Fellow South Africans brings you satire at its best.
The revue comprises older, updated and new sketches that comment on contemporary South Africa in ways that make the audience think, even while laughing.
There’s the one-way ticket to Status Junk courtesy of SAA; a tour guide that offers a ride up Table Mountain in the only car that has not been hijacked – the cable car (though the cable can be stolen at any time), a production of Romeo and Juliet to address racism between ‘black’ and ‘brown’ communities on the Cape Flats with Romeo played by Sandile from Pinelands and Juliet played by Laetitia from Manenberg; Shakespeare doing a TIXERB (BREXIT in reverse) as he seeks to invest in a Hamlet in South Africa, and much, much more.
The talented Kim Blanche Adonis performs this solo piece that combines comedy, singing, poetry and drama – at times playing multiple characters in one sketch – through sixty minutes of high energy and focus.
Building on direction of some of the sketches by Rob van Vuuren and Daniel Richards in previous incarnations, Van Graan directs this revue that will include cartoons by Zapiro.
My Fellow South Africans is a modest contribution to the debate and discourse that will shape the build-up to the elections in 2024.
WHAT: Mike van Graan – My Fellow South Africans
WHERE: Artscape Innovation Lounge, Artscape Theatre Centre, Foreshore, Cape Town 8001
WHEN: Wed, 3 May 2023 – Sat, 20 May 2023
TICKETS: R89.5 – R145 | Computicket Please Note: No late comers will be allowed entrance into the venue.
In addition to formal theatres, the show has been adapted for performance in people’s homes as an alternative distribution model for theatre for three primary reasons:
- there simply are not sufficient theatre venues to accommodate all the productions out there, and the longer a play has a life, the more income it generates for its creative team, a very necessary imperative after two years of COVID just about shut down theatre
- it takes theatre to where people are and introduces it to audiences who may not attend theatre for whatever reasons and
- it allows for discussion and engagement around the issues raised by the play afterwards.
These initial home-shows take place in the week of 24 April to coincide with our 29th Freedom Day, to consolidate the piece and to build momentum before the three-week run at ARTSCAPE.
The same creative team plans to tour a completely different show – He Had It Coming – that addresses issues of gender-based violence and related themes, with income generated from My Fellow South Africans helping to subsidise this tour to schools and communities that may not be able to afford the show but would benefit from having access to it.
INFO: EÂ art27m@iafrica.com
May is a busy month at the Artscape Theatre Centre, so check in to MapMyWay see what will happening at this busy centre of the cultural universe. You will also want to know about the new David Kramer musical Ver in die wereld, Kittie that is part of the Suidoosterfees and ends on 1 May.
