Paul Slabolepszy’s drama, Suddenly the Storm, will have its Cape Town premiere at the Baxter Flipside from Wednesday June 7 to Saturday July 8, at 7.30pm nightly and selected matinees at 2pm.
Playwright and actor Slabolepszy and theatre and television director Bobby Heaney, have teamed up for the play.
Joining Slabolepszy on stage in his role as Dwayne are Charmaine Weir-Smith as Shanell and Renate Stuurman as Namhla, directed by Heaney.
Combative, volatile, constantly on the verge of exploding, Dwayne and Shanell Combrink are two halves of a white South African working-class couple, living an uneasy truce as they struggle with the day-to-day trials of scraping together a living and dreaming competing dreams.
But beneath Dwayne’s angry, violent exterior lies the heartbreak that governs his attitude to life.
Dwayne is a man in mourning. Shanell believes his current level of despair was sparked by the death of his childhood friend and recent work partner, Jonas, but the source of his mourning and anger lies much further back.
When the elegant and self-contained Namhla Gumede, born on 16 June 1976, arrives on their doorstep seeking answers to questions that have remained buried for 40 years, Dwayne and Shanell finally find out the truth.
What starts as a dark comedy suddenly turns into a roller-coaster ride of startling revelations, rage and recrimination… before the storm finally breaks.Tickets cost from R140 to R160.
Block-bookings of 10 or more are R120 and tickets for students and senior citizens cost R110. There is an age restriction of 16 years.
Book through Computicket or for discounted corporate, schools or block-bookings, charities or fundraisers, contact Sharon on 021 680 3962 or email to sharon.
ward@uct.ac.za
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