BWW Reviews: ANTHOLOGY: A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER a Hip and Happening Short Format Theatre Space

The Alexander Bar and Café's Upstairs Theatre is a maverick fringe theatre space in Cape Town. The venue has hosted just about everything from plays and performance art to live music and play readings and has pioneered at least a couple of intriguing theatre-making ideas. The latest of these is the collection of short plays currently running in the venue, ANTHOLOGY: A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER. Given that theme, with the only other constraints pertaining to cast size and scenery, three playwrights have created the trio of plays in the collection: FUNDAMEN­TAL (by Can­dice D'Arcy), DROWNED BRIDE (by Nicholas Spagnoletti ) and TROPICALYPSE (by Louis Viljoen). Compilations usually end up being a bit of a curate's egg, but the format itself makes for an invigorating night at the theatre - even if only two thirds of the programme of ANTHOLOGY: A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER succeeds at delivering a satisfying theatrical experience.

The first of the three plays, FUNDAMENTAL, is the weakest. In her play, D'Arcy takes a look at a dystopian future where politics and religion are one and the same, and where criminals pay a tough price for their sins in a penal colony that turns out to little more than a gory sweatshop. Science fiction is a difficult genre to crack, and philosophical science fiction is its most complex and challenging subgenre. Although D'Arcy's concept is one that suits the demands of the subgenre, the translation of the idea into narrative and action lacks detail and intricacy. The characters are thinly drawn and the dialogue is unconvincing. One can see Adrian Collins, Brendon Daniels and Amy Wilson working the script for all it is worth, but there is simply not enough onto which they can latch in the pursuit of compelling drama. D'Arcy directs her own script tapping into the trademark slow pacing one sees in films of this genre, but without the other conventions of film in place, the piece feels too thin to sustain even its short running time. The costuming of the piece, mainly white jumpsuits and gumboots, is nonetheless highly effective.

Megan Furniss has a great deal of fun directing Spagnoletti's THE DROWNED BRIDE. A witty snapshot of the afterlife, the play tells the tale of a bride and a best man who find themselves at the bottom of the sea after a storm capsizes the yacht on which the wedding photos were being taken. The design uses neat little sea-floor collages inside the black boxes, just enough scenery to communicate the setting and to underline the whimsical feeling of the piece. Furniss taps into the rhythms of life under the sea well. The actors' movements reflect the weight of the waves in their physicality even while they speak normally, a neat detail that might not be missed were it not there, but all the more appreciated because it is. The costume design, although simple, is meticulously executed. The performances by Collins and Wilson are delightful, his much put-upon patience playing well off of her demanding neurosis. Spagnoletti's dialogue is crisp and funny, filled with nautical puns that land well in this charmingly staged piece of work.

Louis Viljoen, whose writing and direction are also on display in THE PERVERT LAURA this month, offers some end-of-the-world mayhem in his crass, hysterically funny comedy TROPICALYPSE, which rounds out the evening's entertainment. Two acquaintances find themselves stranded watching the waters rise around them, their impending doom opening up a channel of brutal honesty - terrible for them, but terribly amusing for the audience to behold. Collins and Wilson are once again paired up in this piece, playing two characters that are born to hate each other. Their sparring is magnificent, and Viljoen keeps them busy with a great deal of physical comedy and a couple of amusing props that surface along the way. Much broader in its style than THE DROWNED BRIDE, TROPICALYPSE also throws in a bit of meta-theatre, with the opening monologue being gleefully self-referential.

ANTHOLOGY: A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER is a clever response to the tastes and attention spans of contemporary society. Almost anyone can sit through endless episodes of their favourite television series at 21 or 42 minutes a shot, but sitting through a piece of theatre that is more than an hour long often seems to be a big ask, unless the show is a mainstream hit like WAR HORSE or THE SOUND OF MUSIC. ANTHOLOGY: A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER lasts for 70 minutes and feels a bit like popping in a disc of THE BIG BANG THEORY or NEW GIRL. It is a hip theatre format, hip and happening, and provides a good space for short format play scripts to be showcased alongside one another.

ANTHOLOGY: A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER runs until 12 December at 7pm, with tickets costing R90-R100. Bookings are open online at the Alexander Bar website or at the bar itself. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the bar anytime during regular opening hours, on Mondays - Saturdays from 11am to 1am. For telephone bookings and enquiries, call 021 300 1652.

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