THE GARAGE SALE to Play Artscape Arena from 2 October

THE GARAGE SALE, part of Artscape's annual Spring Drama Season, opens on 2 October for a limited run at the Artscape Arena Theatre. Written by Rafiek Mammon and directed by Tara Notcutt, THE GARAGE SALE was presented as a Showcase production at the 2013 Artscape Spring Drama Season.

A dark comedy, the play is a three-hander that tells the story of siblings Avril and Mike Williams (Kim Cloete and Stefan Erasmus) - she, a physiotherapist, believes in her fairy tale ending, a strut down some unsuspecting church aisle, while he, a freelance actor, drives his cynicism like an open-top Ferrari, the sharpest thing in his luggage being his tongue. Throw in the pizza deliveryman, Flip (Carel Nel), and the scene is set for a ménage à trois with a twist that sardonically explores the darker, yet funnier side of Cape Town suburbia.

This is Mammon's second offering to the Spring Drama Season. His critically acclaimed first play, SEASHELLS won an Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival, and was ranked by the Cape Times as one of the the top five plays of 2011. Tara Notcutt is a seasoned and internationally acclaimed director and producer, and the artistic director of The Pink Couch. At the tender age of 27, she has already received more than twenty awards and nominations, including the Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for Best New Director in 2010 for ...MISKIEN, which is currently enjoying its five year anniversary at the Baxter Theatre. Her staging of the dark political comedy, THE THREE LITTLE PIGS, toured to Edinburgh last year as part of the Assembly South African Season, and then went on to win the Silver Award for Best International Production at the Amsterdam Fringe.

The cast includes Kim Cloete, who delighted audiences at Maynardville Open Air Theatre as Titania in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Stefan Erasmus, who was in last year's Spring Drama Season's staging of ISYSTEM that toured to the National Arts Festival where he also played a leading role in Artscape's NANCY, and Carel Nel, who is the 2012 Fleur du Cap Theatre Award Best Actor winner for his lead role in DIE REBELLIE VAN LAFRAS VERWEY. Set and costume design for THE GARAGE SALE is by Marcel Meyer and lighting design is by Franklyn Steyn.

The Artscape Spring Drama Season forms part of the Artscape's New Writing Programme that is devoted to the professional writing and production of new South African plays. The programme receives more than 50 unsolicited scripts per year from playwrights writing in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa. Once a play has been identified as having promise, the playwright works with an editor and director to undertake rewrites, and the play may then be given a showcase performance or a performed reading. If well received, it is considered for a full production. The 2014 line-up for the Spring Drama Season boasts stimulating and varied productions from across the country, providing a platform for new local talent to exhibit their work alongside some of the most esteemed theatre makers in the industry. This year's programme began with the selection of plays chosen by Roy Sargeant (who founded the Artscape New Writing Programme) including THE GARAGE SALE, CHOMI, UNDONE, and the showcase INGUBO EMHLOPE. The programme was then extended to include RETURN OF THE ANCESTORS by Mike van Graan, Artscape's Associate Playwright, and showcase performances of NDITHUNGILE SELANI that forms part of the newly introduced Artscape isiXhosa Classics, which are theatrical adaptations of isiXhosa novels.

This year sees the 10th anniversary of Artscape's much anticipated annual Spring Drama Season, which runs from 2 October to 29 November 2014 at the Artscape Arena Theatre. The presentation of these four diverse plays and two showcases help to fulfill Artscape's mission to facilitate, produce and promote the arts in ways that advance nation building, to produce productions of a multi-cultural nature and to establish business partnerships involving all stakeholders. The Artscape Theatre Centre, which belongs to the provincial administration, was opened in 1971 as the Nico Malan Theatre Centre and renamed in 2001 in line with the new South African political dispensation.

THE GARAGE SALE, which carries an age restriction of 16, runs from 2-11 October at 7:30pm with tickets from R40 to R90 via Computicket and 08619158000 or 0214217695. Special discounts are available for block bookings of 10 or more, pensioners, students and scholars.