Ian, Viv raise curtain on life in showbiz

Ian and Viv von Memerty share their lives and love of performing in Ian & Viv von Memerty " Fantastic Fifty.

Ian and Viv von Memerty share their lives and love of performing in Ian & Viv von Memerty " Fantastic Fifty.

Published May 19, 2015

Share

The Von Memertys are popular performers who hold nothing back, writes Diane de Beer

When both Viv and Ian von Memerty turned 50 last year, in typical showbiz fashion, they decided to celebrate in the only way they know – on stage.

The famous phrase: “It’s showtime, folks!” from the movie, All That Jazz, was truly invented for them. “It’s been an extraordinary five decades,” says Von Memerty, “personally, professionally, socially, and technologically – and, of course, that makes for great comedy.”

And that has always been the Von Memerty way. This time it is the man himself and his gorgeous wife who come together to share the facts of their love, life and the challenge of all the tragedy they have had to conquer.

Longevity, says Von Memerty, has to be the result of good teaching, with the main influence on especially his early career, being Joan Brickhill: “I didn’t start with any performance advantages, I was short, fat and pimply,” he notes. But he wanted it badly enough. “I was a nervous performer who couldn’t really sing or dance, so I had to work really hard.” It’s hard to believe when you have watched him through the years, but his work ethic has always been visible.

Also he describes himself as a perfectionist with a Calvinist work ethic, which he explains means that he loves his work. And what he has always found intoxicating is the constant change and challenge that this brings to the job.

Anyone who has watched Von Memerty go through various versions of his hugely successful A Handful of Keys will know that while there’s extremely hard work involved, there’s also genius.

That’s why he has such a belief in performance, with his marriage and stage partnership – professionally and personally – very rare in this crazed world.

This time around, it is Mrs Von Memerty who is faced with the biggest challenge. She is known professionally as a dancer rather than a singer and an actress. But not only that, they have also decided to spill the guts of their family and marriage which, says a very proud husband, against all odds, they and the marriage made it.

Many will know of the Von Memerty family struggle with their children’s rare and agonising disease, Ian’s battle with bi-polar and then, perhaps not so out there, but also understandable, the near disintegration of their marriage. When you have to face as many harsh realities as this family has had to in one lifetime, very few couples would make it through, and that’s what makes them such fighters.

The trick is going to be to put this story on stage. “We had so many requests in our 40s to perform together and the kids wanted to join the party,” says Von Memerty.

In small doses, though, and today his son Oscar is busy as a motivational speaker, comedian and hip hop dancer and his daughter is interested in musical theatre, but wary of the life that goes with being a performer. “We might land up with a mini comedian and a singing accountant,” says a dad who has been there all the way.

But now it is the two of them, Ian and Viv, with the kids living their own lives. They have learnt through life’s harshest lessons that love and laughter keep it together. And while fighting for their children’s lives so publicly, the only way they could raise the funds to do battle, they know that sweating the small stuff isn’t even an option.

He’s thrilled that audiences are still asking for the Von Memerty magic. “It’s good to be here still,” he says. “I don’t want the hysteria and tension of my youth, the 20s with all its insecurity and doubt and the 30s with that desperation to prove myself again.”

Now it is all about the joy of sharing and performing. That’s what this show is about. Ian & Viv von Memerty – Fantastic Fifty.

Presented at Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre from tomorrow until June 7, it deals in all the Von Memerty hallmarks – humour, music with piano and dance. “But it’s also glamorous as Viv wears a continuous round of gasp-inducing outfits,” says her man.

“It’s a balance of earthy honesty and glam entertainment,” which has always been the Von Memerty forté.

They move to Cape Town’s Theatre On The Bay for a run from June 30 to July 12 and then to Durban later in the year, from November 11 to 22.

Related Topics: