GROET DIE GROTMAN Launches Eastern Cape Tour Today

Men won't mow the lawn. Women are always cleaning. Couldn't he rather...? Why can't she just...? Does he not...? If she would only... WAIT! Before this turns into a wrestling match, couples should consider attending a performance of GROET DIE GROTMAN! Rob Becker's highly successful comedy, DEFENDING THE CAVEMAN, presented in Afrikaans as GROET DIE GROTMAN, is back on tour and will visit the Eastern Cape one last time from 12 September!

GROET DIE GROTMAN is a humorous exploration of the differences between men and women and how those differences cause us to misunderstand one another completely. This one-man show has played in sold-out theatres across the world for the past two decades and holds the record for the longest running solo show in Broadway history. It is currently being performed in more than 20 countries in 15 various languages, including German, Czech and Icelandic. "It is wonderful that DEFENDING THE CAVEMAN is also performed in Afrikaans in South Africa," says Becker. "It always makes such a huge difference if one can experience theatre in one's own home language."

How does the playwright explain the production being such a giant success? "I think the show gives people a way to understand themselves and their spouses, and while they are laughing at each other, there is healing, because they are laughing with a darkened theatre filled with couples, which makes them realize that they are not alone. And believe me, when those couples walk back to the car after the show, there is already some serious... you know what... going on. And isn't that in itself worth the price of a theatre ticket?"

Koos Kombuis has translated and adapted the play into Afrikaans, and Hannes Muller plays the role of the "Grotman" under the direction of South African acting legend, Sandra Prinsloo. On the process of translating and adapting the play, Kombuis said, "It was a delight, and also good therapy! I "Afrikaansified" and also South Africanized the show, but Rob's work has such a wonderful rhythm, and is so cleverly put together, that I tried to stick as closely to the text as possible."

For Prinsloo, the challenge in directing the play was to make GROET DIE GROTMAN a unique theatre experience. "We gave our own interpretation to the play, set it within the South African context, yet kept to the essence of Becker's original show. We had lots of fun, and we believe audiences will enjoy it just as much as we did."

GROET DIE GROTMAN recently celebrated the milestone of 900 performances, a record for Afrikaans theatre. Catch the show and be a part of South African theatre history at one of the following venues: the Vodacom Amphitheatre at the Boardwalk Casino in Port Elizabeth on 12-13 at 20:00 (bookings through Computicket or 0861 915-8000); Potters Place in Jeffrey's Bay on 14 September at 20:00 (bookings through Potters Place on (042) 293-250); the Barkly Street Theatre in Uitenhage on 16 September 2014 at 20:00 (bookings through the Barkly Street Theatre on (041) 922-0575 or 081 397-0227); the John Rupert Theatre in Graaff-Reinet on 17 September 2014 at 20:00) (bookings through the John Rupert Theatre on 082 779-104); or at Hemingways Casino in East London on 19-20 September 2014 at 20:00 (bookings though Computicket or 0861 915-8000).