Perfect partners make for funny company

Published Feb 17, 2015

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Currently half of the comic relief in Orpheus in Africa, Sne Dladla is about to do stand-up as the opening act for Nik Rabinowitz at the Baxter.

SNE Dlada’s ultimate goal is to start a production company, maybe even open a club. But, he is “still trying to find out how to be different”.

In his past experience artists aren’t always treated very well by production companies, so he wants to learn how to create a 50/50 partnership between actor and company.

In the past year, the 24-year-old’s experiences have become more positive though. Working on Fergus of Galloway – for which he has received a Fleur du Cap nomination for Best Actor in a Musical Theatre Show, playing several characters – was not only interesting, but also a relief.

Dladla (pictured) had moved from Pietermaritzburg to Cape Town late in 2013, and was struggling to find work: “That was my introduction to how Cape Town works. Audience members here are very critical, tough to impress because it’s not just about the entertainment. They engage fully so I learnt to perform well, I had to be on point, all the time,” he said.

“Working with (Fergus director) Nicholas Ellenbogen was great, he revitalised the actor in me.

“David taught me to play again,” he said about moving on to play in Orpheus in Africa with David Kramer.

While Kramer did much of the research into the Orpheus in Africa roles, he encouraged the actors to do more and Dladla became quite fascinated by his Eggbert Washburn character.

“I really related to this character. He said that being a minstrel and a coon and an entertainer was a talent. ‘I can do it, but it’s not me’, is what he said.

“And, I related to that so much.

“It’s a heartbreaking story, really. Eggbert has this challenge of not being seen as a human being by the white audiences, and then not being seen as an entertainer by the black audience because he was playing a coon.”

Dladla is very much into improv and he and fellow actor Dean Balie had great fun adlibbing during Orpheus rehearsals, some of which Kramer actually kept for the eventual performance.

He and Balie have pitched to do a children’s performance during this year’s National Arts Festival, under the direction of Rob van Vuuren. The forms have been filled in, now they are just waiting to hear about it from the festival.

He worked with uBom Productions on the children’s production Bettie and the Yeti at last year’s festival and found he liked the honesty of the tiny people in the audience. He was also touched by their interaction, like the little one who yelled: “You must just believe” from the back of the room when he was playing a character who was too scared to cross a bridge and needed encouragement.

Dladla’s first solo stand-up show at Grahamstown, The Joke’s on You, won him a Silver Ovation, and later this month he opens up for Nik Rabinowitz’s What the EFF? at the Baxter.

“I would like to believe I’m a stand-up comedian before anything else,” he says, though with his next breath Dladla tries to explain that is not how he introduces himself because then he is expected to be funny all the time.

His stand-up routine is usually apolitical, relying more on his skill as a character performer and the fact that he loves doing sound effects and is a mean beat-boxer.

When pressed to say what he does, Dladla likes to use the word “performer”, because it invites people to ask questions about what he does, rather than press him into an actor, comic or singer box.

There was some talk about taking Fergus of Galloway to the Edinburgh Festival, though he is of two minds whether he would want to do it again, as he prefers to look forward for other challenges. Plus, he doesn’t want to get typecast into comedic and musical roles. Next up he wants something dramatic.

He is tickled by the idea of doing stand-up in an overseas territory and fascinated by a comment from an outsider who talked to him about the difference between South African and overseas comedians: “He said that half the things we say wouldn’t be said overseas, we’re too controversial.

“He spoke about a gag I use where I juxtapose poo and apartheid and he said the way we speak about issues like race would enable people to talk about these issues, so he wants to see more South African comedians travel.

“That’s really the power of comedy; it allows you to talk about issues because it’s not the issue that is funny, but the circumstances around it.”

• What the EFF? runs at the Baxter Theatre from February 23 to March 14 March. Tickets: R120 (for the previews) and R165 from Computicket. Please note there is an age restriction of PG13.

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