BY DIANE DE BEER
He ducks this way and dives the other when asked about his almost two-year hiatus, but finally Theo Landey, pictured,who is back in the country describes his hiatus as an extended honeymoon.
Back on the boards (currently in Cape Town but moving soon to Joburg, April 15 to be exact) in the revival of Pythonesque which tells some of the Monty Python story, it’s hard to believe that it was last performed by more or less the same crew in 2009.
James Borthwick, who is off singing in one of the Pieter Toerien’s musicals, has been replaced by Russel Savadier who is joining Landey, Robert Fridjhon and Graham Hopkins, all from the original line-up.
Back to the travels. “I have a young wife,” concedes Landey who will soon hit the 40 mark which he knows isn’t THAT old, but “I didn’t want to lock her up barefoot and pregnant…” he says.
First they tackled Europe before crossing to the US where they spent time in New York, “seeing and eating everything we could”, before crossing the continent by car to Los Angeles where they hung out for almost 18 months. Robyn Davie, Landey’s spouse, is a photographer who was quickly picked up by quite a few stars to do their head shots. “I dabbled here and there,” says Landey, but he quickly discovered that forging a stage career in LA was a slight peculiarity. Movies and television can be done, but stage doesn’t sit well on this side of the US.
“It’s a place for the young,” says Landey who has a youthful face that doesn’t telegraph his age. But he was looking for more substance and a little less sun.
“I lived for 10 years in England,” he says. He knows what it is to feel like a stranger in a strange place when either back in South Africa or in the US. “In the one they think I’m British and the other an Aussie,” he says. What he and Robyn discovered was their South African roots. They probably won’t stop travelling but they have reassessed their culture and home, and right here at the bottom of Africa is where their roots are. “We have so much family and friends here. What does any success out there mean if you have no one to celebrate with.”
And on that almost melancholy note, he bumps back into Pythonesque mood and the happiness of rediscovering the Python passion. “With Savadier joining the crew, it’s almost a rediscovery of the work,’ he says. “I think last time round we had so much fun just playing Monty Python, the silliness, the dressing up in dresses, the high-pitched voices; it was all so wonderfully overwhelming,” he says.
With four performances done when we speak, he feels as if he has suddenly mainlined on the thrill of theatre – again. But he has also discovered a new play
This has been planned as a local season before the production travels to Los Angeles, as you follow the story of the Oxford and Cambridge graduates John Cleese, Michael Palin, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Eric Idle and the previously-American Terry Gilliam, who in 1969 formed one of the best loved comedy troupes ever – Monty Python’s Flying Circus! That’s where this return production started.
About two years ago, on Landey’s birthday, he contacted two other birthday boys on that particular date, Pieter Toerien and Fridjhon jnr. “I wondered about bringing Pythonesque to LA because there are so many fans, and this is what this local run is about.” They’re preparing to fly internationally.
Telling a story is what this latest version succeeds in doing well. “I can’t remember that happening the first time round,” says Landey. but he loves being back with all the boys, all of whom have worked together many times. It’s like returning to family. “We know one another’s foibles, who needs food every six hours and who has a coffee before rehearsals are allowed to start!”
He can’t remember first time round that the narrative was this clear. “These past few years, religion has polarised massively and Pythonesque is all about poking fun at how seriously we take ourselves. It was said comedy is the last weapon against tyranny, and that’s exactly what Monty Python is all about.”
The 60s he believes, England specifically was all about what you could do and say, and what not. “It was all so prude and prissy,” he says. He doesn’t think anything much has changed in our challenged universe which is why Pythonesque so easily stands the test of time.
Pythonesque runs at Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre from April 15 to May 17.