SOUTH AFRICA THEATER REVIEWS

Approaching politics in the arts is never an easy to feat, but one that is constantly necessary in a tumultuous political climate. Taking on the recent events of student uprisings, a change in president, and even Trump's election, FORCE combines political power with behind-closed-doors intrigue to p...

Brian May once said, 'I don't think anybody comes close to The Beatles' - but BEATLEMANIA ON TOUR certainly does an excellent job trying. With their mop-top haircuts, replica guitars and talented musical stylings, be prepared with BEATLEMANIA ON TOUR to clap your hands, rattle your jewelry, and get ...

With an international tour in its future, CALLING US HOME is a production South Africa can be very proud to send to overseas audiences. The entirely original South African musical showcases the excellence of local talent while presenting a story that will resonate globally. Incredible musicality, he...

Divided into three acts, OLEANNA centers on the daily meetings and subsequent conversations between a verbose university professor John (Alan Committie) and his frustrated, failing student Carol (Nicole Fortuin). As accusations fly and tensions heighten, this unpredictable drama explores issues of l...

Eric Abraham's award-winning production of Shakespeare in Love is back at the Fugard Theatre by popular demand. Its highly anticipated return comes after a sold-out run at the end of 2017 and this latest production boasts a handful of fresh cast members as well as a new lead actor. While one might s...

The current season of WEST SIDE STORY - produced by the Fugard Theatre in the Artscape Opera House - is still as grand as it was in 2015, but is even better in 2018 than it was before - an emotional rollercoaster that is second to none. When I look back at the various productions and performances of...

There is something thoroughly fabulous about watching a performer who knows exactly who they are doing what they were born to do. THE FABULOUS CERI DUPREE SHOW offers Capetonian audiences an opportunity to see just such an artist at Gate69, with Ceri Dupree having returned to South Africa for this l...

There is something utterly inspiring about IMMORTAL, the theatre experience currently playing two shows a night at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. Billed as the first-ever immersive theatre production of its kind in South Africa, it is exciting to see a new company going out on a limb to offer...

There is a great deal about AUNTY MERLE THE MUSICAL that deserves to be recognised. Most importantly, it is a homegrown musical created largely by people of colour with a significant number of roles for people of colour. It attempts to connect with contemporary South African social dynamics and is...

It is an incredibly fascinating experience watching EVITA in South Africa at this time, particularly given the events that have transpired in Zimbabwe over the last month. This musical will speak to the world for as long as the struggle against colonialism and its legacy of inequality continues....

As hilarious as it is unsettling, KIDCASINO is a candid exploration of some of the ideas that have taken hold in contemporary popular culture. Perhaps the reality of what it means to take gamble will come as no surprise to you. No matter, you will still be tickled pink by this show. You can bet on i...

MOEDERTAAL is the latest in a welcome series of Afrikaans theatre productions in The Fugard Theatre's annual line-up, with Naskrif Produksies presenting this poetic meditation on life, love and loss at the popular venue in the Mother City through the beginning of December....

In many ways, it comes as something of a surprise that DIE REUK VAN APPELS has not made its way to the stage until now. Theatrerocket's presentation of DIE REUK VAN APPELS is top class South African theatre, not only a reminder of our painful collective past but also a recognition of our current col...

'I - will have poetry in my life. And adventure. And love. Love above all,' says Viola de Lesseps, the woman who is destined in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE to win the titular Bard's heart. 'Not the artful postures of love,' she continues, 'but love that overthrows life.' In this most memorable of quotations...

An extraordinary talent is currently onstage at Gate69, Cape Town's 'Purple Palace', which continues to deliver on its aim of being a complete sensory experience and South Africa's premiere cabaret theatre. This time, Cathy and her Trolley Dollies present the phenomenal Christina Bianco....

Stuart Lightbody's UNIQUE WONDERS closes today after a dream season at the Alexander Bar, Theatre and Cafe. The popular Capetonian sleight of hand artist and psychological illusionist's newest show has been a sold-out smash success, with bookings filling up far in advance of the nightly performances...

Watching KING KONG, the Fugard Theatre's latest musical theatre production, is as complex an experience as it is a thrilling one. The first revival of a legendary South African jazz opera, as it was called when first performed in 1959, KING KONG is at once a historical document, a contemporary reima...

South Africa, says the note in the programme of STATE FRACTURE, is 'a country that keeps on giving as far as satirical material is concerned.' What a pity, then, that the humour in STATE FRACTURE never transcends the comic to become satire....

Imagine a late-night German television programme like MANN, SIEBER! filtered through the pop culture aesthetic of an American variety show like SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, and you might know what to expect from IN WHOREFISH BLOOMERS: THE WAITRESSES' LAMENT, which is more a 'kabarett' than what South Africa...

THINGPHONY takes as its theme the philosophical question of whether order is intrinsic in the universe, or whether it is human beings that give order to the phenomena they experience. Performer Philip Southey discusses a wide array of topics in the show, including colour, physics, music and sex....

For as long as prejudice exists in the world, people will tell stories of star-crossed lovers. The plot of CHEERS TO SARAJEVO places a Serbian Romeo opposite a Bosnian Juliet, but this iteration of the archetypal story makes them live through the conflict in which they find themselves....

The Market Theatre production of Paul Slabolepszy's SUDDENLY THE STORM is currently in the middle of its Cape Town season at the Baxter Theatre. Having opened just two days after the Naledi Theatre Awards presented the play and its production with three awards, SUDDENLY THE STORM arrived in Cape Tow...

People often forget is that hubris walks hand-in-hand with nemesis, and Louis Viljoen shines a spotlight on this particularly damning walk of shame in his latest play, THE EULOGISTS, which features a top-notch performance by Emily Child....

There is something indescribable about returning to Gate69, the glitzy dinner theatre venue that opened less than a year ago in central Cape Town. It is that ineffable feeling of coming home, of belonging. CATHY AND THE TROLLEY DOLLIES, one of the venue's current offerings, is a blast for everyone -...

HEMELRUIM is a deeply personal and moving piece of theatre. The Afrikaans translation of Nick Payne's CONSTELLATIONS, created through the theatrical mastery of Nico Scheepers, is performed by Tinarie van Wyk Loots and Paul du Toit....