Industry icons Fiona Ramsay and Graham Hopkin are set to star in the riveting theatre production “Hansard,” which will be staged at the Baxter Theatre from January 25 to February 11.
Written by British playwright Simon Woods, “Hansard” is directed by TV and stage legend Robert Whitehead.
The contemporary two-hander premiered at London’s National Theatre in 2019. This week, the stellar cast of “Hansard” are wrapping up yet another successful run at the Sandton Theatre on The Square before heading to the Mother City.
Ramsay told IOL Entertainment she is excited to be back at the Baxter stage after 15 years.
Her last performance at the Baxter was in the classic play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in 2007.
“That’s not to say that I haven’t been to the Baxter to see shows. I’ve been to the Baxter a lot over the years … I’m looking forward to just being back in that theatre. It was built when I was a student at UCT,” said Ramsay.
The Joburg based actress and theatre maker further explained that going back to the Baxter is a full circle moment for her.
“I did many productions there as a student and as a professional when I was still living in Cape Town. So I kind of feel like I’ve grown up with the Baxter Theatre, you know. It’s quite dear to me,” added Ramsay.
Set in 1988 the play follows the tale of a married couple Robin Hesketh and his wife, Diana.
Robin is strongly right-wing and contemptuous of identity politics, while Diana’s liberal attitudes are excitingly critical of Tory rule and entitlement.
Their relationship of 30 years is also not as blissful as it seems. She has a stinking hangover; a fox is destroying the garden and secrets are being dug up all over the place.
“Although it was written in 2019, it is unbelievably topical. It was about a bill that was passed, in 1988. So it's a historical thing, but the topic is not historical and you don’t feel that it’s history. Someone once said, ‘what relevance does British politics have for South Africa?’
“A lot of people have been put off by the fact that they say it’s politics, it’s not politics. It’s a universal story of the psychology of how you stay together with someone for 30 years and what happens to a relationship and how you survive. Some people become nasty to one another.
“Some people become funny. Some people are just tolerant, some become silent. And I think it experiences all of this. And also of course it does deal with sexuality in some way in the play. And that’s very topical.”
On what fans in the Mother City can expect from the show Ramsay said: “I think Capetonians still has many people that were exposed to colonial works.
“This play is colonial in its format, but it debunks all of that. So it’s quite an interesting piece that uses its own form to deconstruct it. So it’s quite interesting.
“Audiences can look forward to an exciting gripping evening of theatre that is both wildly funny and deeply touching and deeply moving.”
“Hansard” will run at Baxter Theatre from January 25 to February 11. Tickets range from R150 to R200.
Joburg
“August Wilson’s Fences” with John Kani
Where: Joburg Theatre.
When: February 2 to 23.
August Wilson, the African American playwright often called “theatre's poet of Black America”, is best known for his remarkable works on the 20th-century African American experience including “Fences”, “Piano Lesson”, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “Pittsburgh Cycle”.
Two of which earned him coveted Pulitzer Prizes for drama namely, “Fences” in 1987 which also earned a Tony Award that same year and “The Piano Lesson” in 1990.
To mark the launch of Black History month, the Joburg Theatre hosted a Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday celebration on what would have been his 93rd birthday on January 15.
The Joburg Theatre performers took to the stage to honour King through music, dance and spoke word.
“This is going to be an annual feature at the Joburg Theatre, it will help us announce the Black History Month production chosen for the year,” said the Joburg Theatres’ artistic director James Ngcobo.
“With our strong belief that our spaces should always strive for an eclectic mix, curate content that articulates that we are telling stories in a universal space. To challenge ourselves as curators, to think broader about the different installations we invite our patrons to the theatre for.”
Cape Town
“Go Big”
Where: The Drama Factory.
When: 26 to 28 January.
Directed by the irrepressible Daisy Spencer, “Go Big” has a money-back guarantee for anyone who leaves the venue not having laughed out loud three times and fallen off their chairs twice.
The show features the star-studded comedy trio of Mcilroy, Bobbert and Spencer. “Yes! New and improved – 3.0”, hilarity at its best. After “Blooper” and “Family Therapy”.
The show features songs associated with The Divinyls, Simply Red, Eric Carmen, MC Hammer and Pitbull; Queen’s “The Show Must Go On”, Alphaville hit, “Big in Japan” and Black Eyed Peas’s “Let’s Get It Started”.
Durban
“The Moon Looks Delicious From Here”
Where: Rhumbelow Theatre.
When: February 24 to 26.
Through the mediums of physical theatre, mime and characterisation, “The Moon Looks Delicious From Here”, is a one-man theatre show which explores immigrant family dynamics and how they shape identity and heritage in a first-generation citizen.
The drama is driven by a loving father and son – each from different eras and motherlands. Here Aldo Brincat plays an array of characters in and around this fragile young nuclear family; some foreign, some local – all of whom are finding, or losing themselves in the ever-changing political landscape of their new homeland, South Africa.
“The Moon Looks Delicious From Here” is written and performed by Brincat and directed by Sjaka Septembir.