SUDDENLY THE STORM to Make Cape Town Premiere at the Baxter Flipside

Nominated for six Naledi Theatre Awards, the Market Theatre's production of Paul Slabolepszy's SUDDENLY THE STORM will have its Cape Town premiere at the Baxter Theatre Centre during Youth Month. The Capetonian season of this riveting drama follows its unprecedented success at the Market Theatre and the Theatre on the Square.

For SUDDENLY THE STORM, playwright-actor Slabolepszy has once again teamed up with theatre and television director Bobby Heaney to create a distinctly South African experience. Joining Slabolepszy on stage in his role as Dwayne, are Charmaine Weir-Smith (ISIDINGO, BINNELANDERS) as Shanell and Renate Stuurman (ISIDINGO, SCANDAL!) Namhla. Lighting design is by Wesley France and set design by Greg King.

Combative, volatile, constantly on the verge of exploding, Dwayne and Shanell Combrink are two halves of a white South African working-class couple, living an uneasy truce as they struggle with the day-to-day trials of scraping together a living and dreaming competing dreams. But beneath Dwayne's angry, violent exterior lies the heartbreak that governs his attitude to life. Dwayne is a man in mourning. Shanell believes his current level of despair was sparked by the death of his childhood friend and recent work partner, Jonas, but the source of his mourning and anger lies much further back. When the elegant and self-contained Namhla Gumede, born on 16 June 1976, arrives on their doorstep seeking answers to questions that have remained buried for forty years, Dwayne and Shanell finally find out the truth. What starts as a smouldering dark comedy suddenly turns into a roller-coaster ride of startling revelations, rage and recrimination before the storm finally breaks.

Slabolepszy is an acclaimed playwright, as well as radio, television and screenwriter of more than thirty plays, which include MOOI STREET MOVES, MAKING LIKE AMERICA, SMALLHOLDING, PALE NATIVES, MY LOW-FAT ALMOST ITALIAN WEDDING, THE RETURN OF ELVIS DU PISANIE and HEEL AGAINST THE HEAD. SUDDENLY THE STORY is his first new play since 2009.

Lara Foot, the artistic director and chief executive officer of the Baxter Theatre Centre comments:

Paul Slabolepszy is one of South Africa's most prolific and admired theatre-makers and we are delighted to welcome him back to the Baxter and to be hosting the Cape Town premiere of his latest play.

SUDDENLY THE STORM runs at the Baxter Flipside from 7 June to 8 July at 19:30 nightly, with matinee performances on 24 June, 1 July and 8 July at 14:00. There are no performances from 15 to 19 June. Tickets for previews and matinees cost R130, Mondays to Thursdays cost R140 and Fridays and Saturdays cost R160. Block bookings of ten or more cost R120, and tickets for students and senior citizens cost R110. There is an age restriction of 16 years. Bookings can be made online at Computicket, by phone on 0861 915 8000, or in person at any Shoprite or Checkers outlet. For discounted corporate, schools or block-bookings, charities or fundraisers, contact Sharon Ward on 021 680 3962 or Carmen Kearns on 021 680 3993.

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