#theo landey

[offthescreensa]

It’s so right that it goes wrong.

In The Play That Goes Wrong at the Pieter Toerien Theatre, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong, and it’s so funny to watch.

We all know the old adage: The show must go on. Well, the new production at the Pieter Toerien Theatre at Montecasino, The Play That Goes Wrong, takes that sentiment to a whole new level.

Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, The Play That Goes Wrong, tells the tale of the fated production of “Murder at Haversham Manor” by the Northriding Polytechnic Drama Society. Director Chris, played by Russel Savadier, has put together a marvellous play, in his opinion anyway, and cast it with the best actors he has available. From the moment the production starts what can go wrong, does go wrong, which includes doors not opening, portions of the stage falling apart, actors ending up unconscious and with some serious concussions, I’m sure, a mishap with the drinks on stage, and a stage hand with serious delusions of grandeur. It’s a tour de force of every director’s worst nightmares, but, as the adage attests to, the show does, indeed, go on, regardless of the mayhem happening around them.

This is one of the funniest plays I’ve ever seen. Literally from the moment the curtain opens and Jonathan, who is playing Charles Haversham in the play, played by Theo Landey, is found lying dead on the couch in the middle of the stage, it had me in stitches, gasping for breath. Director Alan Committie knows all there is to know about comic timing, and it shows in his masterful crafting of this dry British madhouse. Comedy is incredibly hard to perform, especially on stage where you only get one take to get the joke right, but each and every one of the performers on the stage does a remarkable job of working well together, and with their props, to get the most out of each and every joke.

Every actor does a great job with their roles. Landey’s cadaver, which keeps coming back to life. Savadier’s detective, who is trying to control things as the director, but slowly losing hope that the show might turn out okay. Robert Fridjhon’s overbearing soon to be brother-in-law, who spends a large amount of the play suspended from a falling balcony. Roberto Pompo’s butler, who has his script written up and down his arms, even though he can’t read half the words. Nicole Franco’s incredibly overacting fiancé who spends most of the time unconscious. Sive Gubangxa’s stage hand, who ends up on the stage, and enjoying it a little too much. Louis Viljoen’s other stage hand, who would rather text or listen to his Duran Duran Cd then actually do his work. They all do marvellous jobs in bringing these characters to life, but the star of show, for me, is Craig Jackson. He has, for me at least, the best character in the production. That guy that really cannot act, but just loves to be up on the stage, possibly a little too much. He is seriously funny and has a lot of the best comic moments in the show, especially his dance-a-long monologues that had the audience in complete stitches. Not to mention the dog that they couldn’t find.

The stage is also wonderful, becoming as much a part of the comedy as the actors themselves. I marvelled as things fell off the wall, then stayed on, just to fall again on que. The lift that blows up, twice. The balcony that collapses, on que, in the middle of the production, with three actors on it. It all lends to the comedy lines that the actors are performing, and really tickles the funny bone.

This play might not be for everyone, but if you’re are a fan of dry British humour, ala Monty Python, or a fan of comic greats like Charlie Chaplin, then you will find this play incredibly funny. The only problem is that you might not find out who actually killed Charles Haversham, because you’ll be laughing so much you might miss it.

[artsvark]

Market Theatre brings home the gold

The Market Theatre Foundation has once again proven its mettle when it scooped the Standard Bank Fringe Ovation Gold Awards at this year’s National Arts Festival.

Standard Bank Gold Ovation Award winner: Hani: The Legacy.

At a ceremony on Saturday night preceding the closing day of the annual Festival in Grahamstown, the Market Theatre Laboratory’s production, Hani: The Legacy was awarded the prestigious fringe festival accolade. Also, walking away with the Standard Bank Fringe Ovation Gold Award was Tau, a production developed and supported through the Market Theatre Foundation’s Zwakala Festival.

Standard Bank Gold Ovation Award winner: TAU

“The two Gold Standard Bank Ovation Fringe Awards highlight the Market Theatre’s pivotal role for being a hub for artistic excellence and social relevance. Both productions created and presented by a new generation of South African artists are a strong testimony that the Market Theatre Foundation, forty-one years into its existence, still is committed to its founding vision to excellently tell authentic South African stories that inform, educate and entertain,” said Ismail Mahomed CEO of the Market Theatre Foundation.

The accolades at the National Arts Festival follow the Market Theatre’s enormous success earlier this year at the Naledi Theatre Awards when the Market Theatre scooped a total of 51 nominations across various categories.

Hani, devised and directed by Leila Henriques is inspired by the hit American musical Hamilton. Amidst the current political challenges in South Africa, Hani is told through hip-hop, rap, ballad and high-powered energetic dances, the contemporary production is an inspiring story about the life and times of assassinated political leader, Chris Hani. Hani can be seen at the 969 Festival at Wits Theatre on 25 and 29 July 2017.

Tau deals with sensitive cultural issues that have remained unchanged for centuries and are difficult to question. It also deals with the taboo of homosexuality during a sacred “manly” ceremony. The play does not wish to shun the cultural beliefs of its audiences, but asks people to look to themselves and whether they are abusing the power rooted in customs on the grounds of ignorance or as a calculated choice…LEROTHODI!!

Tau will be staged at the Vryfees Festival in Bloemfontein from 19 – 20 July 2017.

The Market Theatre’s line-up for the second semester of 2017 consists of an equally exciting line up of productions which commences this week with the opening of Sue Pam-Grant’s production, Chasing Chairs and also Standard Bank Young Artist, Monageng Vice Motshabi’s production, Ankobia.

In Chasing Chairs, the husband and wife duo Sue-Pam Grant and DJ Grant merge their creative writing skills to produce a theatre piece that will navigate a couple’s journey in self-discovery and put them under a microscope. Chasing Chairs features Chi Mhende who is well known for her role as Wandi, a transgendered woman in Generations. She makes her Market Theatre debut alongside Theo Landey, who has won the hearts of South Africans in the series of television advertisements for Outsurance. Chasing Chairs will be staged at the Barney Simon @ The Market Theatre from 14 July to 6 August 2017.

Returning from its premiere at the National Arts Festival, the 2017 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner, Monageng Motshabi’s play, Ankobia, will make its Gauteng premiere at the Market Theatre. Set in the futuristic land of Pelodikgadile where it is forbidden to remember anything that happened before the new state was formed, Ankobia traces the voices of those who used to fight for land and truth but have now been muted. Ankobia will be staged at the Mannie Manim @ The Market Theatre from 21 July – 13 August 2017.

For details about the above productions and for play dates visit the Market Theatre website www.markettheatre.co.za

Market Theatre brings home the gold was originally published on Artsvark

[sandytheblogger]

Generations Actress Chi Mhende Chases Chairs At The Market Theatre

Actress @Chi_Mhende ‏ Chases Chairs At The @MarketTheatre #ChasingChairs

Generation’s Actress Chi Mhende has landed a big role in one of the most compelling theatre productions to date, Chasing Chairs at the Market Theatre. Mhende acting alongside theatre veteran Theo Landey. The production opens from the 14th July to 6th August.

Known to her fans as the beautiful and mysterious Wandile on the SABC1 daily soapie Generations, Chi has won hearts of millions of…

[schdaude]

Filmkritiken

Es haben sich wieder einige Filme angesammelt. Hier mal die "Abarbeitung" (eigentlich haben nur 2,5 Filme richtig Spaß gemacht):

Dreams from stangers, IT 2015

Italienischer Apnö-Taucher und Schwimmer nimmt an einem Wettkampf in St. Petersburg/Russland teil. Verliebt sich dort. Über weite Strecken experimenteller Film; handwerklich gut, jedoch langweilig. Wertung: **

Pride, GB 2014

1984: Thatcher-Ära in England. Streikende Minenarbeiter in Wales erhalten uneroffte Hilfe von Londoner Schwulen und Lesben. Brilliant! (Kämpferisches) britisches Kino as its best. Höchstwertung! Wertung: *****

Lichtes Meer, D 2015

Landei aus Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will Seemann werden, macht Lehre auf einem Containerschiff und fährt in die weite Welt. Verliebt sich (unglücklich) in den französischen Matrosen Jean. Unerwartet gut: Umsetzung, Darsteller, Aufnahmen. Kleinigkeit: Zwischendurch zu viel Erzählertext statt Dialoge. Wertung: *** bis ****

Wo willst Du hin Habibi, D 2016

Berlin: Deutsch-Türke Ibo verliebt sich in die Wrestler-Hete und den Kleinganoven Ali. Geschichte dünn, Ali-Darsteller Martin Walde ein Lichtblick, ansonsten sehr hölzern und es fehlt der Drive. Wertung: **

Jan Krüger Kurzfilme, D 2000-2007

4 x Kurzfilme: Freunde (Jugendiche sortieren ihre Gefühlswelt. Wertung: ***), Tango Apasionado (Zwei Männer sortieren ihre Ex-Beziehung. Kammerspiel. Wertung: **), Hotel Paradies (Schwuler verliebt sich in Frau. Wertung: **), Verführung von Engeln (Experimental-Video zu Lindenberg-Musik. Übel! Wertung: *)

No night is too long, CA/GB 2002

Psychodrama: Affäre zwischen einem Studenten und einem jungen Dozenten endet in Alaska in einer Katastrophe mit Ansage. Stimmungsvoll, emotionsgeladen, vielschichtig, schwermütig. Ganz ordentlicher BBC-Film. Wertung: ***

Schwarzer Ozean, F/B/D 2010

1972: 2 junge Marine-Rekruten erleben auf einem Kriegsschiff im Südpazifik einen Atombombenversuch der Franzosen im Mururoa-Atoll. Einer verzweifelt daran. Warum wurde das unter Queer-Film gehandelt? Abgesehen davon: Was will der Film überhaupt? Um zu zeigen, wie langweilig es als Rekrute auf einem Kriegsschiff ist, brauch ich keinen langweiligen Film machen. Für einen Anti-Atombomben-Film ist die Story zu dünn. Und für einen Freundschaft-unter-Kameraden-Film ist die Inszenierung zu weit weg vom Thema. Für die halbwegs passablen Bilder und die passable schauspielerische Leistung 2 Trostpunkte. Wertung: **

Theo und Hugo, F 2015

...haben Sex im Darkroom eines Pariser Clubs. Danach ziehen sie durch die Straßen der nächtlichen Stadt. Sie sind auf dem besten Weg, sich zu verlieben. Doch eine Wendung scheint die Romanze abrupt zu zerstören. Spektakulär: Im Spielfilm selten intensive und hemmungslos offene Sexszenen gleich zu Beginn (erinnert an "Shortbus"). Doch es macht auch Spaß, die Beiden auf ihrem Streifzug durch Paris und ihr Kennenlernen, ihren Konflikt  mitzuverfolgen. Sehr nah, sehr intensiv und realistisch, nie peinlich oder aufgesetzt. Bravo: zurecht TeddyAward 2016! Wertung: ****

[mudandmainstream-blog]

Carjacking.

Asked about the time he was carjacked in South Africa with co-stars Denise Black and Theo Landey while filming To The Ends Of The Earth in 2004, he lights up a cigarette, fixes his eye on a point on the table and he is away. He sets the scene – he's been on a shoot and it's night-time on a highway near the Mozambique border. A tyre blows and they have to stop. The juggernauts whizz by in the freezing African night. The grassland stretches out seemingly for ever.

Then six men appear. Cumberbatch and his two colleagues are held up against the car. The men utter terrible threats and tie the trio's hands behind their backs with their own shoelaces. There follows a very intense sense of death being close by. He describes the running commentaries in his head and the strange moments of calm. He remembers the Radiohead song playing on the car sound system and recites the lines.

Then things get worse. He is thrown into the boot of the car, and later on to the ground. He can feel a trickle of blood from the side of his head and insects scrabbling away. Even though they are bound up, he can squeeze Denise's hand. And he keeps thinking, "I wish I knew morse [code]" then he thinks, "Hmmm, that would be fucking irritating and useless if she didn't know it, too."

And so on and so on and so on. He isn't just telling, he is reliving the experience. The car-jacking lasted two and a half hours; this is a mere 26 riveting minutes. Finally, we reach the aftermath, when Cumberbatch went on an "adrenaline junkie drive", skydiving, hot-air ballooning and generally "looking over the precipice".

[artsvark]

Chasing Chairs relationship complexities

Chasing Chairs – Theo Landey, Sue Pam Grant and Chi Mhende

The husband and wife duo Sue-Pam Grant and DJ Grant are successful artists in their own right. Sue Pam Grant is known for her unique inclusion of fine art design elements in productions with carefully structured emotional scenes. DJ Grant is famous for his small screen writing. In Chasing Chairs, they merge their creative writing skills to produce a theatre piece that will navigate a couple’s journey in self-discovery and put them under a microscope.

Directed by multi-disciplinary artist Sue-Pam Grant, Chasing Chairs is a window on the relationship of a refined and artistic couple poised on the cusp of both middle age and a sometimes-fragile sense of a shifting of the previous certainties of their lives in a time defined by contestation over the validity of perceptions of truth or reality.

Chi Mhende, who is well known for her role as Wandi, a transgendered woman in Generations, will make her Market Theatre debut in Chasing Chairs alongside Theo Landey, who has won the hearts of South Africans in the series of television advertisements for Outsurance. The duo explores themes of displacement in their relationship and managing spousal expectation and challenges of bringing up a family in modern world.

In Chasing Chairs, Mhende will portray a roller-coaster of emotions of a woman that many South Africans will relate to in this thrilling drama. The play sparkles with the quick and often peculiar or profane wit of the interchanges that define domestic sparring; sometimes beautifully connecting and sometimes painfully out of touch with each other’s perspectives.

Chasing Chairs opens a window on a reality through which many will recognise their own foibles, frustrations and moments of sublime pleasure that are the hallmarks of an intimate relationship. It will offer audiences an insight to how love and family can shift people’s beliefs and open them to new encounters. It is a contemporary love story with twists that will heighten the audience’s curiosity levels.

Chasing Chairs will be at the Market Theatre from 14 July – 6 August 2017.

Chasing Chairs relationship complexities was originally published on Artsvark

[artsvark]

Renos chats to Drew Bakker about Play Club's The Audience

Tune in to Saturday’s Role With Reno: O Rolos Tou Savattou Me Ton Reno, Saturday mornings on The New Pan Hellenic Voice – Greek Community Radio 1422MW from 8am to 11am

On Saturday morning’s edition of Saturday’s Role With Reno, host Renos Spanoudes interviewed Drew Bakker the founder of Play Club.

PLAY CLUB

Play Club is a grassroots pop-up theatre initiative to build community in and around the arts industry.

Play Club meets regularly to deconstruct play scripts just like the first time the cast of a new show gets together for the first time with a new script.

On Monday evening Play Club meets simulataneously in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg for an all star reading of The Audience. The audience is invited to take part in the process by reading the script, as the cast reads the play.

The Joburg meeting of Play Club on Monday stars Fiona Ramsay as Queen Elizabeth alongside James Borthwick, Charlie Bouguenon, Alan Committie, David Dennis, Theo Landey, Kate Normington, Jackie Rens, Michael Richard, Luise Saint-Claire, Mikah Jaye Smith, Renos Spanoudes and Malcolm Terry.

To learn more about Play Club and their activities in Durban, Cape Town and Joburg visit their website www.playclub.co.za or join the Facebook Group.

Listen to Renos’ interview with Drew Bakker here:

Tune in to Saturday’s Role With Reno: O Rolos Tou Savattou Me Ton Reno, Saturday mornings on The New Pan Hellenic Voice – Greek Community Radio 1422MW from 8am to 11am

Renos chats to Drew Bakker about Play Club’s The Audience was originally published on Artsvark