Seasoned journalists go for breaking news stories. They don’t have the time for poof pieces and artsy fartsy stuff. They want to sink their teeth into gritty hard news stories and be the first to break a story.
So I was not surprised at the paucity of reporters during the 2011 Young Directors season that took place recently at the Rhodes University Drama Department.
Although I didn’t have to fight off colleagues for tickets to make the experience all the more satisfying, I’m glad I went, for the experience of seeing young theatre-makers putting on a show. The Drama Honours course requires students not just to produce a play, but to co-ordinate and manage it professionally for an audience.
Seasoned journalists go for breaking news stories. They don’t have the time for poof pieces and artsy fartsy stuff. They want to sink their teeth into gritty hard news stories and be the first to break a story.
So I was not surprised at the paucity of reporters during the 2011 Young Directors season that took place recently at the Rhodes University Drama Department.
Although I didn’t have to fight off colleagues for tickets to make the experience all the more satisfying, I’m glad I went, for the experience of seeing young theatre-makers putting on a show. The Drama Honours course requires students not just to produce a play, but to co-ordinate and manage it professionally for an audience.
The first play, A Scent of Flowers, directed by Bianca Binneman, tells the story of a young girl named Zoe who is described by the other characters as troubled. She is having a difficult time dealing with her father remarrying, and her living situation with the new wife and her stepbrother Godfrey.
Her life is further complicated by an affair she has with a married lecturer, her seemingly perverted interactions with her uncle, her infatuation for a black priest and the flirtatious relationship with Godfrey.
Zoe, we discover early on, took her own life and the story tells of the frustrations that led her to do so.
That is exactly where the play failed to impress, though.
Insufficient information is provided regarding why Zoe killed herself and at the end the audience was left to tie up the loose ends.
This might have been intentional, but better guidance through the story would have achieved a lot more. The production’s simple but effective set design did, however, impress.
The story might have bamboozled, but the cast looked comfortable enough with it to keep the audience in their seats.
Breathing In, directed by Julia te Reh, told a different story completely. It had the audience at the edge of their seats and the suspense was palpable. On a stormy night during the Anglo Boer War, a mother and her ill daughter are taking care of a general in a shed.
A soldier comes into contact with them and through the mother's sly manoeuvres, he ends up falling in love with the daughter.
Again, the set design was believable and creative.
The sound recreated the stage into a stormy night in the bush, where something sinister is going to happen. The sick general didn’t say a word but his constant wheezing was convincing and the all-round energy the actors had was amazing.
The costumes were on point and enhanced the characters. Director Te Reh can be proud of a production that set a very high standard.
For the next play, the following night, we were led backstage. A dream play was performed behind the curtains, with the audience seated on the floor and the action happening all around.
What the play was about entirely was difficult to grasp.
There was a bit with a mother (played brilliantly by Kelsey Stewart) and the difficulties she has dealing with her son, and bits about doors that shouldn’t be opened.
An element to the story that was a revelation but wasn’t properly exploited, is the fact that the way we dream the future doesn’t necessarily match the way we think.
The script had a few gems scattered about, but they were few and far between, and the audience had to contend with uncomfortable seating and confusion most of the time.
On the programme there is a quote by Martin McDonagh that introduces Autopsy: “People should leave the theatre with the same feeling you get after a really good rock concert”.
Writer and director Josh Martin made his intentions abundantly clear; he wanted to entertain – and that he did.
The exploits of Dr Whimple, as he tries to save his failing morgue, translate to a very funny half hour of theatre. The audience was laughing all the way through.
The impressive Ed Pepperell was at his best as the doctor, Candice Gawler as the conniving assistant Miss Sparrow was suberb, and a good cameo by Kirsten Macgillivray added zest to the play.
Autopsy was a very good ending to an entertaining season of up-and-coming young directors.
