It was through a conversation at a casting that Royston Stoffels and Edgar Whitley discovered that they shared the same friend – the late, great South African musician, Basil Manenberg Coetzee.
With Manenberg having held a special place in their lives, the two actors decided to pool their knowledge and create a show around the idea.
Written by Stoffels, B Project celebrates Manenberg’s musical journey and legacy. One of the definitive musicians of Cape jazz, born in District 6, he moved to Manenberg and then Mitchell’s Plain, where he died of cancer in 1998.
“Manenberg was a man revered internationally yet lived virtually penniless with a rich legacy of music. He died a pauper with a family that had to scrape money together for his funeral,” Stoffels said.
“Our story pays tribute to the numerous South African musicians whose stories are often ones of ‘riches to rags’, and whose stories are untold.”
B Project is told in humorous and light-hearted scenes where Stoffels and Whitley often “become” him. “Everyone called him B, and it’s a play on words for ‘be yourself’. Our name for Basil was The Master.”
They relive moments in his life by using some of his own words.
“A lot of the text that I write in the story is actual stuff he said to me, verbatim,” said Stoffels. “He had drawls in his speech and had a slight stammer when he spoke.”
The show also features some of Manenberg’s memorable and lesser-known recordings.
An actor for almost 40 years, Stoffels says B Project is also his about his personal journey and musical development. He befriended Manenberg in 1995 after a challenge by one of his friends to “get Basil to play with me”.
“I play the piano and play mostly my own songs, only in my music room – and to a few friends who would pop over for a musical. But Basil always encouraged me to do my music,” he said.
Stoffels recalls his days with his band, Food, which he said once opened for Manenberg’s band, Pacific Express.
They later formed a project called Homegrown, with Stoffels on piano and Manenberg on saxophone and flute. “We had a season at Elaine’s in Observatory, a few private gigs, played at the KKNK (Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees) and a concert at the Baxter Theatre.”
Stoffels says there will be four try-out performances of the 50-minute show. They will have feedback sessions after each, and hope to get sponsorship.
• Catch the B Project at the Theatre Arts Admin Collective, Observatory Methodist Church Hall on the corner of Milton and Wesley roads. Tickets cost R50. May 9, 10, 11, 12 at 7.30pm.