Normality, written by Hennie van Greunen, comes full circle when it debuts on Broadway in November.
Originally written as Lyf in 2000, the play was partly inspired by the scriptwriter’s sister’s experiences with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, the skill of actor Pedro Kruger and Van Greunen watching Whoopi Goldberg on Broadway.
Goldberg’s 1985 performance of The Spook Show revolutionised the concept of the one-person show through her use of several different character monologues and made a very strong impression on Van Greunen.
Lyf is a love story between a man whose body has been ravaged by juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and the woman who refuses to fall for his scathing humour to look past the scarred body to see the man hiding there.
The play made its Edinburgh debut in English as Normality in 2009, where it received critical acclaim but low audience attendance. Van Greunen says his experience this year with Sewing Machine (Rachel Greef’s play which he translated from Die Naaimasjien) has inspired him to try taking Normality to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival again.
This year Sewing Machine was part of The Assembly Festival’s South African mini season at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Sandra Prinsloo received rave reviews from critics and audience attendance picked up dramatically as the Festival went on.
Van Greunen described it as a huge deal for them that Sandra Prinsloo did so well in her one-woman show, considering it was going up against Yael Farber’s Mies Julie on the same platform.
“Sandra [Prinsloo] was a bit nervous. She’s this old lady with make-up and the first time she went out there, people reacted immediately. They responded very viscerally. Every reviewer remarked on the brilliance of the performance,” said Van Greunen.
He could tell when there were South Africans in the audience because of the way they’d respond to references and he was tickled by the way many of the female audience members took a look at the actual sewing machine after the play, only to remark that they remember their mothers using similar machines.
“One reviewer said the play was for him primarily about the infidelity of humans and the fidelity of machines in our lives. I liked that, “ said Van Greunen.
Their Edinburgh Fringe Festival success opens up doors for Wordsmith Theatre Group to investigate taking the one-woman show to travel through England.
“This is a chance... a way to showcase the brilliance of South African stories,” said Van Greunen, adding that “the human condition” expressed through local theatre seems to be the missing ingredient that sets our stories apart from much of the other work he managed to catch at the Festival.
Capetonians will get to see Normality and Sewing Machine this month at the Baxter. Opening night for the two English plays at the Golden Arrow Theatre on October 16 will be a double bill, with the two plays alternating thereafter.
Mostly Normality will play until October 30, with only Sewing Machine playing from November 1 to 10. Thematically the two plays are linked because they’re about outsiders telling their stories. “Both stories are about people looking for healing,” said Van Greunen.
Normality will debut on Broadway, at ROW Theatre on 42nd Street in the United Solo Festival, a festival of one-person theatre on November 10.
Before that day dawns though, he’ll pass another watershed moment on October 28 when three different Wordsmith Theatre Group productions are all being performed at different venues (Normality at the Baxter, Shirley Valentyn at Die Boer in Durbanville and Grieta kry Geleerdheid at The State Theatre).
• Normality plays at the Golden Arrow Theatre, Baxter Theatre from October 17 to 28.
• Sewing Machine plays at the Golden Arrow Theatre, Baxter Theatre from October 23 to November 10.