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BWW Review: Mamela Nyamza's DE-APART-HATE is First Rate Dance Theatre from a Visionary Artist
DE-APART-HATE will mean a lot to everyone who is trying to engage with what is going on in our country at the moment. Because the mystery of what will rise once what must fall has fallen, what lies beyond decolonisation is what is at the heart of this piece, and Nyamza's recognition of that makes he...
BWW Review: Powerful HOLY CONTRACT Reminds Us That We Can Stop, Even as It Encourages Us to Go
HOLY CONTRACT ends with a brief but powerful statement that compels us to reflect on our personal, social, political or artistic narratives. Sometimes it is essential to remember that we can stop, be present and decide whether we want to swim upstream or not, and HOLY CONTRACT is a potent reminder o...
BWW Review: Powerful Choreopoem SONGS FOR KHWEZI is Theatre That Can Disrupt and Heal
SONGS FOR KHWEZI is theatre that one hopes to see grow in its reach. It is theatre that says important things in an original way. It is theatre that speaks truths that women know and that men need to hear. It is theatre that can disrupt. It is theatre that can heal....
BWW Review: Will the Real WOZA ALBERT! Please Stand Up?
WOZA ALBERT! remains an incredibly powerful play. That it can withstand mediocre productions and still, more or less, manage to resonate with an audience is a testament to what Ngema, Mtwa and Simon achieved 35 years ago. When the real WOZA ALBERT! stands up, it takes no prisoners. It is a play that...
BWW Review: Energetic Performances from Zondi and Nzimande Make TERMITE a Romp for the Tween Set
TERMITE! TALL TALES FOR BIG PEOPLE is a dynamic performance piece in which two actors tell a trio contemporary tales that blend izinganekwane with physical theatre . Mentioning 'big people' in the title is a super tactic to attract the 'tween' audience to which this production will appeal most, alth...
BWW Review: LA RÊVE DU LUCIE a Highlight for Young Audiences at the Cape Town Fringe
LA RÊVE DU LUCIE brings children and their guardians together like few theatre pieces for young audiences manage to do. The play is a gentle and tender story about the power of our imaginations in helping us overcome our greatest challenges....
BWW Review: Louis Viljoen's DANGLED with Rob van Vuuren Offers Genius in Action at the Cape Town Fringe
It is quite remarkable when contemporary theatre-makers succeed in taking on a classic work and reinventing it so that it resonates within the context of our particular space and time. DANGLED is theatrical savant Louis Viljoen's adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's 1835 short story, 'Diary of a Madman', w...
BWW Review: Brisk Business at Cape Town Fringe Will Ensure That THE GRUFFALO Franchise Continues to Grow
THE GRUFFALO seems to have done brisk business at the Cape Town Fringe and is sure to have a life on South African stages beyond this initial engagement, with an isiXhosa version already lined up for next year. It will be fascinating to see how this process of translation plays out as the next entry...
BWW Review: Irrepressibly Zany POLICE COPS a Giddy Ride on Laughter-induced Endorphins
POLICE COPS is pastiche on a grand scale, taking the buddy cop genre, putting a self-aware spin on it and playing tropes that were once taken extremely seriously to the very edge of sheer lunacy. The results are hilarious, as though THE MOD SQUAD were taking on IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT in the WILD W...
BWW Review: A Play About Failure, DEATH OF A CLOWN Has the Makings of a Successful Web Series
The way that Ryan Napier tells the story of DEATH OF A CLOWN, through a solo live performance piece, prompts the question of whether this format and medium is the best way to tell this story, and the stalemate it reaches as an extended theatrical presentation is wrapped up in the answer....
BWW Review: WAIT Over-simplifies the Complex Dilemma of Access to Education for Girls and Young Women
The discrimination against girls and young women when it comes to their education remains a pervasive issue in contemporary society. WAIT, currently playing at the Cape Town Fringe, focuses on just two of these: the priority of educating boys over girls and the marrying off of girls and young women ...
BWW Review: Epic ODYSSEUS FINN Offers Fire, Absolution and Transcendence at the Cape Town Fringe
Odysseus Finn is epic. An hour with band members David van Witt, Michael McQuilken and Peterre Bourgeoise offers fire, absolution and transcendence. This is one of the highlights of the 2016 Cape Town Fringe....
BWW Review: WOZA SARAFINA! at Cape Town Fringe a Disruption that Needs to Erupt
Writer-director Koleka Putuma's assemblage of ideas and motifs in WOZA SARAFINA! is constructed within the context of the #RhodesMustFall movement and is informed by the ideologies that underpin that movement. While it speaks many truths, the play never finds a way to deliver more than just "the fee...
BWW Review: Quirky MACHINE MAKES MAN Extends Tradition of Science Fiction on Stage at Cape Town Fringe
Dealing with the concepts of technological singularity and transhumanism, Adina and Michael Verson-McQuilken's MACHINE MAKES MAN navigates its way through the traditions of science fiction, ultimately emerging as a poignant reflection on the nature of humanity, with some broadly comic entertainment ...
BWW Review: The Fugard's CLYBOURNE PARK a 'Woke' Look at White Privilege and Gentrification
The Fugard Theatre's production of CLYBOURNE PARK arrives at a time when South Africa is caught up in Archibald MacLeish's idea of 'the play without the play,' a world in which the gentrification trend and the problems caused by white privilege denialism intersect....
BWW Review: Elza van den Heever Thrills in Her 'Date' with Beethoven's FIDELIO at Caramoor
South African soprano Elza van den Heever has long had a 'date' with Beethoven's Leonore, in his only completed opera FIDELIO. It wasn't exactly a blind date—she has known for years that, eventually, she would take it on, she told me—but it was a roaring success in her role debut, at the Veneti...
BWW Review: I LOVE YOU - You're Privileged, Now Change
There is a meme making the rounds on Facebook at the moment. Above an image of the cast of the television series, FRIENDS, a caption reads: 'This documentary of White Privilege is kinda long and hard to watch, but DAMN. Really lays it all out there.' This revival of I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW C...
BWW Review: ANGELS ON HORSEBACK: RELOADED Delivers on its Promise to Be Daring, Dirty and Delicious
ANGELS ON HORSEBACK: RELOADED is a revival of a successful cabaret first devised by Fiona du Plooy - who directs this reboot - and Candice D'Arcy in 2007. Daneel van der Walt and Alicia McCormick saddle up for a wild ride through a series of original songs, covers and parodies, some crazy banter and...
BWW Review: NIQABI NINJA an Essential Commentary on Sexual Harassment at Alexander Bar's Upstairs Theatre
Theatre can bring people to the threshold of revelation; theatre can also engender revolution. NIQABI NINJA achieves the former, but its limited theatricality presents it from going further. Its essential commentary outlined, NIQABI NINJA needs now to amplify, unapologetically, what it has to say....
Startling and Intimate THE INCONVENIENCE OF WINGS a Triumph for Lara Foot at the Baxter Theatre Centre
Lara Foot's latest play, THE INCONVENIENCE OF WINGS, has been seven years in the making. Since Foot started dreaming up this startling, intimate tale about the challenges of living with a mental disorder, both as a patient and a caregiver, this play achieving the same rich fulfilment of the promise ...
BWW Review: Top Notch Cabaret DANI & THE LION Reinvigorates the Genre at #NAF16's Albany Cabaret Club
DANI & THE LION is cabaret as it was meant to be. Created by Daneel van der Walt, who performs original songs and stories with a cameo appearance by a few unexpected classic tunes, this show sets the gold standard for this trickiest of theatre genres....
BWW Review: Gender and Performance Under the Spotlight in ACTRESSES: AN ADAPTATION OF CHEKHOV'S 'THE SEAGULL' at #NAF2016
ACTRESSES: AN ADAPTATION OF CHEKHOV'S 'THE SEAGULL' is the kind of production that captures one's attention. The poster is excellent, with an image that is as provocative as production company Black Hole Collective's description of their work. Anon Chekhov's 1895 drama was first produced the followi...
BWW Review: Devilishly Wicked Satire on the Drill Hall Stage in FATHER, FATHER, FATHER at #NAF16
The winner of a Silver Standard Bank Ovation Award last year, Robaby's FATHER, FATHER, FATHER is back on the National Lottery Fringe at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. A devilishly wicked satire, this physical theatre piece was created by cast members Roberto Pombo, Joni Barnard and Racha...
BWW Review: PEOPLE BENEATH OUR FEET at #NAF2016 Represents Significant Development for Hungry Minds Productions
PEOPLE BENEATH OUR FEET is the first original play from Hungry Minds Productions, written by Katya Mendelson and Kiroshan Naidoo in response to the refugee crisis that has been the result of the Syrian civil war. This new play grapples with important issues and represents a significant development f...
BWW Review: Highly Watchable New Production of OUT OF BOUNDS at #NAF2016 Needs More Nuanced Directorial Eye
Although OUT OF BOUNDS is highly watchable, director Crizelle Anthony should re-interrogate her production thoroughly so as to refine both her vision and her execution of this still significant South African play by Rajesh Gopie...
Videos
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MAMMA MIA! Artscape Opera House (9/03-10/11) |
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PRETTY WOMAN: The Musical Teatro at Montecasino (4/24-5/31) |
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MAMMA MIA! The Musical! Artscape Opera House (9/03-10/11) |
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MAMMA MIA! Artscape Theatre (9/03-10/11) |
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MAMMA MIA! The Musical! Teatro at Montecasino (10/16-11/22) |
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MAMMA MIA! Teatro at Montecasino (10/16-11/22) |
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MAMMA MIA! The Musical! Artscape Theatre (9/03-10/11) |
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Enrico Brignano - Bello di Mamma 2026 Piazza del Duomo di Pistoia (7/06-7/06) |
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Broadway to Blockbuster City Hall (6/12-6/13) |
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Enrico Brignano - Bello di Mamma 2026 Mapo Club (9/01-9/01) |
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