TANNIE DORA GOES BOS. Directed by Jeremeo le Cordeur, with Dean van der Ventel, Anton Jeftha, Kim Syster, Andre Lombard and Khalil Kathrada. At the Artscape Arena Theatre, Thursday and Friday at 8.15pm, Saturday at 3pm and 8.15pm, and Sunday at 6pm. STEYN DU TOIT reviews.
THEADORA “Tannie Dora” Louw is one remarkable woman. A pillar of the Franschhoek community, this widow has brought up many troubled youths over the years and transformed them into upstanding members of society. A church lady with bite, there are only three rules in her foster house: Do not swear, do not take the Lord’s name in vain, and always respect your elders.
When she’s found nonchalantly knitting under police interrogation at the beginning of Warren Meyer’s Tannie Dora Goes Bos(aunty Dora goes insane), we immediately suspect that a terrible mistake must have been made. The fact that she also readily confesses to having committed cold-blooded murder earlier that day only strengthens our resolve that there must be more to this story.
Directed by Jeremeo le Cordeur ( Pizza’s Here, February 14th), what unfolds is an eccentric Cape winelands murder mystery of elaborate proportions. The crime in question involves the fatal shooting of jewellery shop owner Oom Willem (Andre Lombard). The only three people with him at the time of his death were his stepdaughter, Helena (Kim Syster), her mechanic fiancé, Billy (Khalil Kathrada), as well as Tannie Dora (Dean van der Ventel).
As the police inspector in charge of the case it is Jaco Vermeulen’s (Anton Jeftha) job to find out exactly what happened.
But while the matter appears to be an open and shut case following Tannie Dora’s earlier confession, things are unexpectedly turned upside down when both Helena and Billy also suddenly start confessing to pulling the trigger.
One or more of them is clearly lying, but who?
Meyer’s fast-paced script is presented in a linear way and often breaks away to confessional scenes in which the characters talk directly to the audience in order to share their back stories. This helps flesh the plot out and identify possible motives for each wanting to kill Oom Willem.
Several flashbacks that return to the fateful moment of the murder are included in the narrative.
No two such scenes are ever performed in exactly the same way. Instead, each flashback depicts the events leading up to the shooting as seen through a different suspect’s viewpoint; or rather, how they claim to remember it. This makes for exciting viewing and keeps Inspector Vermeulen (and us) guessing right until the dramatic moment of revelation.
As with any good murder mystery, the plot will then twist several times more before coming to its final/real conclusion. However, given the title of Tannie Dora Goes Bos as well as its various references to Quentin Tarantino’s ultra-violent Kill Bill(including the poster and theme music featured), I was admittedly left a bit confused by the fact that this theme was not followed through to the rest of the story as well.
The play’s cohesive cast comes across as energetic and fully committed to their respective and often offbeat roles. Most noticeable is the fact that the character of Tannie Dora is played by a male actor. Under Le Cordeur’s steady direction, Van der Ventel doesn’t merely resort to cheap pantomime tactics, but rather portrays a tough and compassionate woman forced to play the hand of cards that life has dealt her.
Lombard has the difficult job of playing a truly horrible person with no chance of redemption. Bombastic, abusive, misogynistic, racist and wrathful, one thing’s for sure: Oom Willem had it coming. Following stellar recent performances in Urban Death and The Beauty of Incomplete Things, Lombard here once again delivers a daring and commanding performance.
Jeftha also gives one of the evening’s most memorable and versatile performances, but overall felt a bit underutilised. A trimming of the audience confessional scenes and seeing them incorporated naturally into Vermeulen’s interrogation of the suspects is perhaps something that could be considered for future drafts of the script. This will make for both smoother viewing and result in more stage time for the very talented Jeftha.
Entertaining, peppered with profanities and performed in a lekker mixture of English and Afrikaans, Tannie Dora Goes Bos is a high-octane show that had its audience in stitches on opening night.
l Tickets are R45 to R75. To book, call Computicket at 0861 915 8000, or see www.computicket.com