Countdown to Baxter Theatre's Afrikaans Season of DIE ONTELBARE 48 and AS DIE BROEK PAS Begins

The countdown has begun for the Baxter Theatre's 2017 Afrikaans Season, which is made up of Wessel Pretorius in DIE ONTELBARE 48 and Antoinette Kellerman in AS DIE BROEK PAS. Pretorius and Kellermann, two of South Africa's leading lights in Afrikaans theatre, will perform their acclaimed solo performances on the Baxter's Flipside stage.

The season kicks off with Pretorius's satirical drama DIE ONTELBARE 48. Written, directed and performed by the award-winning actor, the play recently played a season at the 2016 Aardklop Festival, where it was nominated for the Best Actor, Best Director and Best Production awards.

On a Wednesday night in a small rural town in the Lowveld, the school hall is set up for the monthly movie night. Forty-eight members of the community gather together to see THE SOUND OF MUSIC and amongst them sits a murderer with a cunning plan. DIE ONTELBARE 48 is a microcosmic look at the everyday humanity that binds everyone together.

Pretorius won four kykNET Fiëstas in 2013 for his previous solo play, ONT, receiving awards for Best Achievement in a Solo Performance, Best Newly Created Afrikaans Performance, Best Upcoming Artist and Best Actor.

Kellermann's gripping performance in AS DIE BROEK PAS is directed by Marthinus Basson, a play that has been translated by multiple award-winning writer Willem Anker from the renowned German playwright Manfred Karge's JACKE WIE HOSE. The production has received eight top South African theatre awards and has been nominated for an additional six, winning, amongst others, four kykNET Fiëstas.

The play explores the life of a woman who, during Germany's depression during the 1930s, disguises herself as a man after her husband's untimely death. When she takes over his job as a crane driver at the factory where he used to work, her choice to masquerade as a man gives her important insights into being a woman. Her bitter experience of her wasted life under the Nazi regime leaves her with many questions about society and the traumatic era in which she is caught up.

In a career spanning 40 years, Kellermann has established herself as a doyenne of South African theatre, winning numerous awards for her work on radio, television and on stage. Kellermann selected this play as a practical component of her Master's Degree at the University of Stellenbosch, where she studied so-called trouser actresses, women playing the roles of men, and for which she received cum laude.

DIE ONTELBARE 48 runs from 24 - 29 October at 20:00, with a 14:00 matinee on 29 October. AS DIE BROEK PAS runs from 3 - 12 November at 20:00, with 15:00 matinees on 5 and 12 November. Bookings for both shows are through Computicket. Tickets for both productions range from R80 - R120, with a discounted price of R150 for patrons who attend both productions. The discounted R150 ticket is only available at the Baxter Theatre Centre's box office. For discounted corporate or group block bookings, fundraisers or charities contact Sharon Ward on 021 680 3962 or Carmen Kearns on 021 680 3993.