Fugard Studio Theatre Opens CHAMP April 5

CHAMP, written by the talented playwright Louis Viljoen, has recently been awarded the 2012 Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for Best New South African Script. The play was nominated in two additional categories - the Rosalie van der Gucht Prize for New Directors (Greg Karvellas) and Best Supporting Actor (Adam Neill).

Presented by Artscape and the Fugard Theatre, and directed by Greg Karvellas, Louis Viljoen's wicked new play CHAMP will be re-staged - after an initial successful season at Artscape in 2012 - at the Fugard Studio Theatre in April 2013. CHAMP is a project of the Artscape New Writing Program.

Three actors, scraping the bottom of the barrel while working as children's entertainers in a mall, find themselves struggling to hold on to their jobs and what little dignity they have left when they encounter a vicious child hell-bent on making their day worse than it already is. Through a combination of exhaustion, wounded pride, middle-class disaffection and a little too much alcohol early in the day, they enter into a battle with the mischievous and dastardly little boy and set in motion a series of events that will not necessarily change their lives, but perhaps make the day a little more interesting.

CHAMP stars Mark Elderkin (SKEEM), Nick Pauling (WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS), Pierre Malherbe (NOT ABOTHER FRIGGIN' TRIBUTE SHOW) and Jenny Stead (CARDENIO) and introduces Oliver Booth, a recent UCT Graduate.

CHAMP is a dark comedy about haves, have-nots, want-nots, up-starts, young bucks, old farts, little men, big boys and the inevitable slide into booze-fueled depression. Due to explicit and graphic language, CHAMP carries a strict no under 18 age restriction.

Tickets, ranging from R100 to R140, are available through Computicket or at the Fugard Theatre box office on 021 461 4554. Friends of the Fugard benefit from the usual, excellent discounts. For more information, visit the Fugard Theatre website or follow the Fugard Theatre on Twitter. Watch CHAMP perform the Harlem Shake on YouTube.