ONSkuld – ‘n mobile thriller
DIRECTOR/DESIGNER: Quintin Wils
WRITERS: Jannes Erasmus, Quintin Wils, Johann Smith and Corne Joubert
CAST: Jannes Erasmus, Vianney Farmer, Nina Marais, Carina Nel, Stephanie Gericke, Mareli Jooste and Tiaan Slabbert.
VENUE: Starts at ZwarrieAter (At Hoerskool Zwartkop in Centurion) cnr Old Jhb Road and Mopani Ave, Hennopspark (Centurion)
STARTING TIMES: 7pm & 8.30pm UNTIL: Saturday
RATING: ***
THIS is above all a theatrical experience for young people. It’s not that the oldies won’t get it or want it, it’s simply something that will appeal more to a younger crowd because it’s all about people at play and the more the participants have fun, the more the show will develop and, hopefully, explode in the best sense of the word.
It’s much more about the drama of the occasion than pure theatre and it’s a lovely way into a more traditional theatre world. That’s important, because all these different approaches reach different audiences and will open a window that might otherwise be prohibitive.
Wils and his band of performers have started on a road that is going to grow and develop into something quite extraordinary and as they are at the forefront of this experience locally, they can really set their own parameters.
In this instance, three cars and three stories set out with two actors in each and three audience members who are immediately drawn into the script to become spectators. Their participation gets the actors telling their stories, but also thinking on their feet and playing in the moment.
Because of the thriller element and only an hour to let the story play out, there is much hilarity and hysterics (perhaps histrionics!) and part of the pleasure was trying to imagine what the uninvolved people at the petrol station were making of all of this as these three noisy cars arrived with people jumping out and screaming at one another and these almost astonished passengers (audience) waiting patiently for them to return to the cars.
Phone calls are made between the cars to get the story rolling forward and finally we all arrived at what is a destination and, hopefully, where the murderer might emerge. But, says the director and one of the three writers, the idea is also that you might return for a next journey in a different car to get an even better picture.
That’s where they lose me, because when I go to theatre, I want it all in one go. I don’t want to walk out with more questions than answers unless it’s a text that was written to do that and is so dense that it keeps me thinking and questioning and debating. This wasn’t that. It was simply that you weren’t given all the facts.
But it’s joyous. It’s a venture where audience and actors share an experience that both have to contribute to or it won’t work as well. But it also allows the actors to activate different muscles as they are in almost confrontational contact with their audience.
In the next instalment, the scripts should be developed more tightly and it should have more layers to engage the audience to truly call it a theatre endeavour.