THE GARAGE SALE
DIRECTOR: Tara Notcutt
CAST: Kim Cloete, Stefan Erasmus, Carel Nel
VENUE: Arena Theatre, Artscape
UNTIL: Saturday
RATING: ***
THE Garage Sale is a fun dark comedy with a twist. It has an underlying nasty little secret, but just taken on the surface, at least at the beginning, it is a light-hearted romp.
As we enter the Arena Theatre, two people are rummaging through boxes, carrying around odd items and lugging yet more stuff on to the stage.
The scene seems to be a garage, filled with stuff and more stuff, and Avril (Cloete) and Mike (Erasmus) keep finding more. When she’s not watching, he slips out to the backyard to light up a spliff, knowing full well she is going to get upset (which she does), but doing it anyway, because he can.
Brother and sister are sorting out a lifetime of stuff, things gathered in their parents’ home over the years. Things they feel they have to get rid of now that they are selling the house.
As they label books and clothes, they find emotionally significant items like forgotten toys and dusty photo albums and reminiscence about growing up. They also twist and jab at each other as only siblings can, calling out each other’s weaknesses, stabbing at the sore points they know only too well, teasing and familiar.
Old resentments are stirred up, as well as old pain, but then in steps Mike’s friend Flip (Nel), and now the emotional dynamics change because of this guy who Mike likes. But, er… ja… the guy likes Avril.
On opening night Cloete and Nel were very comfortable in their skins, while Erasmus was still acting, but this is something he will get over quickly enough. The characters feel real and the way they relate to each other is intimate as only family can be.
She wants order and to label things, but Mike wants to be as free as a bird.
Playwright Rafiek Mammon has created a sharp script with some great repartee which director Tara Notcutt has shaped into a cohesive package. The audience laughed right up until it wasn’t funny anymore and then it hits you in the gut and you wince.