SOUTH AFRICA THEATER REVIEWS

He may have lived way before my time, but Buddy Holly’s music is some of my favourite and it’s an absolute treat to see it performed live by the talented cast of BUDDY: THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY. This musical is a toe-tapping spectacle of lights, dancing and great music....

The mood was set from the get-go when I watched DEVIL SONG on an autumnal evening with a yellowing moon. Compiled and directed by David Fick, this cabaret consists of different monologues and songs that create a funhouse of humanity's darker aspects. Needless to say, my inner goth was hooked from th...

The discourse surrounding feminism looks different than it did a few years ago. This is of course natural and unavoidable, but with the recent backlash of the MeToo movement and the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States, one wonders where things might be going. And what better place to loo...

The Baxter's foyer was packed on Saturday night for the opening of this year's ZABALAZA THEATRE FESTIVAL. It is the festival's 13th year, and according to its Artistic Director and Curator, Mdu Kweyama, the core team started their planning in May of last year. One can imagine that this festival must...

I’ve known for some time now that Jonathon Roxmouth is a great singer. What I didn’t know until this week was that he is also brilliant on the piano, and very entertaining as the host of a show. KEY CHANGE has everything – great music and great personality....

THE RANGERS is a new play written and directed by Daniel Newton in his directorial debut. The 80 minute psycho-thriller is one of the most tension-wrought plays I have ever seen – and I absolutely loved it....

Milnerton Playhouse’s most recent offering is the hilarious TOM, DICK AND HARRY – a farce that takes place over the course of one day in a London home. The play opens in the home of Tom (Anton Schäfer) and Linda (Grace Brain), a married couple, who are frantically preparing for the arrival of t...

It's 2023 and homophobia in South Africa still rears its ugly head in our cultural landscape far too often. Although on paper South Africa seems to be a haven for LGBTQ+ members, it is still a challenge for many queer Afrikaners to reckon with their identity and feel accepted. MY HART IS 'N MUURBAL ...

The 2023 return to the Open-Air Festival at Maynardville ends with a captivating double-bill production presented by Cape Town City Ballet. LES PATINEAURS and LES SYLPHIDES are the perfect one-act ballets to be staged at Maynardville, the lush foliage of which adds to the magical element of these pe...

I should probably start this review by stating that I am a huge fan of Sandra Prinsloo and the play MASTER CLASS. When I heard the two would be coming together this year – I was incredibly excited. I’m even more excited to tell you that this production is one for the history books. Prinsloo is s...

BREAKING THE CLOSET, conceptualised by Nicola Hetz and Eugene Mathews, is back! This offering, now in the form of a variety show, provides members of the Cape Town LGBTQIA+ community the opportunity to share their coming out stories in a safe space, through the art of performance....

I’ll start off by saying wow! I had goosebumps from the very beginning, all the way through. Vincent van Gogh is one of my favourite painters and this is largely why I was so excited to seen VINCENT – HIS QUEST TO LOVE AND BE LOVED when I first saw it advertised last year. It took me a while to...

CALLING US HOME is a heartfelt musical that explores, among other things, the concept of home: What is it? Where is it? Can we ever really leave one home and create another? ...

OK, so you don’t go to see CINDERELLA for the plot. What you do want to see is all of the gorgeous costumes, the brilliant set and the dancing to an incredible score. If you pick the right performance, you also get the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra playing live as the dancers move on stage. It ...

A trip to Maynardville to see Shakespeare under the stars is a great night out. With the excellence of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, you’re really getting a night to remember....

Watching THE GRASS WIDOW at the Masambe Theatre feels like visiting a well-kept secret. Sitting in the intimate auditorium, elbow-to-elbow with other audience members, the anticipation is palpable for Louis Viljoen's latest production....

The text is superb, the actors accomplished professionals at the top of their game, the direction tight and the package a reminder to us to live without regrets, to keep our loved ones close and that 'I'm sorry' should never be left unsaid....

'Gosh, I haven't been here in years,' a fellow audience member uttered with glee at Maynardville's SONGS OF SHAKESPEARE. Shakespeare in the Park is back in Cape Town, and it is a return to form for many local audience members. Sitting between the trees, underneath the starlight, Jose Dias guides the...

Theatre allows us to escape but it also allows us to recognise parts of ourselves and our (often universal) experiences mirrored in a work – which in turn makes us feel validated and seen. This fresh, new musical does just that. CALL ME A FOOL centres around two twenty-something year old women nav...

STAR+CROSSED follows the interwoven tale of Billy and Bess. Bess, who is based on Elizabeth Klarer, meets Billy one evening on Flying Saucer Hill in the Natal Midlands. The two children form a connection that spans nine decades, from 1910 until 1994. Billy and Bess' stories are intertwined but also ...

What did our critic think of THE SECRET GARDEN at The Star Theatre?...

In all honestly, I have never been a fan of the story of SLEEPING BEAUTY. The 1959 Disney film put me off and none of the recent Maleficent-centred adaptations tempted me. But writer and director, Faeron Wheeler’s fresh, 21st-Century take on SLEEPING BEAUTY is nothing like these… and it is great...

THE NUTCRACKER, one of the world’s most celebrated ballets, needs little introduction. As a Christmas-time favourite, it has come to be synonymous with the festive season. Now, on the 130th anniversary of the original production’s premier, producer Veronica Paeper and Cape Town City Ballet deliv...

My family and I have been avid fans of the AUNTY MERLE musicals since the first of the three productions graced the Baxter stage in 2017. When AUNTY MERLE: IT’S A GIRL came out in 2019, my brother and I adored it so much that we saw it twice. So, when I heard that there was a third instalment in t...

This beautiful adaptation by the team from VR Theatrical is pretty much just what the doctor ordered for the festive season. It combines song, animation, puppetry, voice overs, beautiful acting and a healthy dose of humour to warm the heart....