Margiet Meyer-Rödenbeck turned to nostaglic source material for her Afrikaans panto, but it’s not just for kids, writes Theresa Smith
DID YOU know that in addition to voicing Koning Rosekrans, Riaan Cruywagen also provided the voice for the two sprites, Kerrie and Borrie?
Margiet Meyer-Rödenbeck discovered that when she had to call the SABC to talk to them about Liewe Heksie when she started planning her pantomime Liewe Heksie: Flower Power.
Doing research for the Afrikaans pantomime commissioned by KKNK (who co-produced and mounted the production last year in Oudtshoorn), she also discovered that Mimi Coertse provided the voice of the fairy queen back in the day, so initially casting Zanne Stapelberg as that character in her show made sense when it started. Singer and songwriter, Anna Davel, now takes over the role.
The Afrikaans pantomime has Flower Power in the title to tell adults that this is a family show, not just something for children.
They follow the basic storyline – the Geel Heks (played by Loukmaan Adams, who also serves as choreographer) is trying to steal the silver rose that powers Blommeland and it is up to Levinia, or rather Liewe Heksie (Meyer-Rödenbeck) to thwart her.
They had to walk a fine line between contemporising references and being respectful of the original characters: “So we kept a lot of stuff traditional, like Heksie has to look like Heksie. The character Verna Vels created is awkward, but also good-natured and gutsy and doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” said Meyer-Rödenbeck.
The pantomime includes multiple sub-plots, but they’ve kept it simple, since it’s all about having fun: “You have to let go and just have fun,” said Meyer-Rödenbeck.
She and Francois Toerien co-wrote the script and at one point considered firing all the actors and tackling all the roles, because they had so much fun writing the project.
“You have to have fun while doing it, while writing, while rehearsing, everything. When pantomime is well done it must look easy. So I think we succeed in that because we are all having fun on stage,” said Meyer-Rödenbeck.
Chris van Niekerk is the voice of reason, Karel Kat, while kitten Matewis is played by Meyer-Rödenbeck’s 6, almost 7-year-old daughter, Luca: “In panto you have the luxury of having kids play animals or small parts and she takes it very seriously. We limit her stage time because when she’s on stage, no one wants to watch us,” she said.
She’s grown so much since starting the role at 5 that her costume’s arms and legs have had to be extended.
Carel Nel is the king, and De Klerk Oelofse and Crystal Donna Roberts play the gifappeltjies – Borrie and Kerrie – as well as Griet the horse (it takes both of them to create the magical creature) and Blommie (Oelofse received a Fleur du Cape nomination for his various roles) and Kwaaitjie (Roberts). The music director, Emile Minnie, doubles up as the royal pianist. Meyer-Rödenbeck partly chose Liewe Heksie as the panto source material because Verna Vels’s original characters are “funny, quaint and different”, but a streak of nostalgia for the familiar characters also swayed the decision.
“You know what to expect which is nice for panto. Verna Vels passed away two years ago and these characters have been around for 55 years, so it’s nice to have something that’s South African on stage, and not just another Grimm’s fairy tale. It’s fun and nowadays people are so traumatised by politics, the economy and no power, which is also part of the show because we have political and social references, but people need to escape and this show is fun.”
Liewe Heksie: Flower Power, Brooklyn Theatre, Pretoria, tomorrow to May 1. See www.brooklyntheatre.co.za for more info or call 012 460 6033.