Much-anticipated premiere of Viljoen’s latest play

INTRIGUE: Kiroshan Naidoo, Pierre Malherbe and Emily Child in ‘The Eulogists’. Picture: Daniel Ruthland Manners

INTRIGUE: Kiroshan Naidoo, Pierre Malherbe and Emily Child in ‘The Eulogists’. Picture: Daniel Ruthland Manners

Published Apr 28, 2017

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Eric Abraham and the Fugard Theatre present the world premiere of double Fleur du Cap writer award winner Louis Viljoen’s new play, The Eulogists.

Viljoen is the Fugard Theatre’s writer in residence and The

Eulogists marks his first offering in this position. It will run from May 30 until June 24 in the Fugard Studio Theatre.

Viljoen partners with his long-time collaborator Greg Karvellas (Clybourne Park, The Father, Bad Jews) as director, reuniting the team that have created acclaimed productions such as Champ and The Frontiersmen.

The Fugard Theatre audiences have had the chance to see previous plays by Viljoen, among them Champ, and the multiple Fleur du Cap award-winning The Kingmakers and The Pervert Laura.

The cast includes Emily Child (The Pervert Laura, The Emissary, A Certain Lady) as Audrey, Pierre Malherbe (The Kingmakers, Sexual Perversity in Chicago) as Harris and 2016 Fleur du Cap winner for Most Promising Student Kiroshan Naidoo (Anthology, Fabulous Nothing) as Zee.

The creative team for The Eulogists includes set design by Rocco Pool (The Father, associate designer for The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek), Costume design by Widaad Albertus (wardrobe supervisor District Six-Kanala, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek) and lighting design by Kieran McGregor (The Father).

The world's media has descended on a small town to wait for a great statesman to die.

Audrey, a flash-in-the-pan author who once had access to the leader and profited from it, has holed herself up in a room around the corner from the dying man’s family home.

Zee is an ambitious researcher who dreams of breaking an exclusive story about the leader’s past and shares a room with Audrey. Cabin fever has set in.

Thrown into this volatile situation is Harris, a correspondent for an American radio station

who brings with him a few bottles of wine and a plan to end the

boredom.

Each of the three people have their reasons for being stuck in the town and as the truth emerges, the inevitability of losing a person who represents hope becomes an unbearable burden.

“We are delighted to be staging the much-anticipated premiere of Louis Viljoen’s latest play as part of our Writer in Residence Programme,” says Daniel Galloway, the executive director of the Fugard Theatre.

“In addition to presenting world-class South African productions of existing musical theatre

and plays, we are committed to providing a platform for new voices to flourish.

"The Writer in Residence Programme offers the writer a series of guaranteed commissions and production of his or her work on the Fugard Studio Theatre stage.

“Louis has consistently illustrated through his work his razor-sharp observation skills and no-holds barred exploration of political, social and human themes, with dark, deviant characters that we both love and loathe.

"He is one of the most compelling new South African playwrights and we look forward to staging a number of his plays in the forthcoming years.”

Viljoen is one of the creators (along with playwrights Nicholas Spagnoletti and Jon Keevy) of the successful short-play initiative Anthology which has had four successful seasons at The Alexander Bar’s Upstairs Theatre.

Viljoen was the recipient of the Rosalie van Der Gucht Best New Director award for his plays, The Kingmakers and The Pervert Laura.

The production will run at the Fugard Studio Theatre, Tuesdays to Saturdays at 8pm with a 4pm matinee performance on Saturdays. The Fugard Theatre is in the heart of District Six, on the corner of Harrington and Caledon streets, Cape Town.

Tickets start from R120 to R160 and can be booked through Computicket at 0861 915 8000, online at www.computicket.com or at any Shoprite Checkers outlet.

Bookings can also be made at the Fugard Theatre box office on 021 461 4554.

There is a 15% discount available for the Friends of The Fugard members.

Age restriction: 16 (language)

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