From category archives: Athenaeum News

Theatre Productions

THE LITTLE PRINCE - a mini musical

 


This production will premiere in Port Elizabeth at the PEMADS Little Theatre at the Athenaeum before it tours to Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre in Johannesburg.
LIMITED SEASON: 10 - 14 October
Tickets from R100
Available here: http://bit.ly/TLP_PE_Bookings or one hour prior to every performance at the doors.

Adaptation and Direction: Elizma Badenhorst
Music and Lyrics: Wessel Odendaal
Presented by: VR Theatrical

 

PIETER-DIRK UYS / THE ECHO OF A NOISE

Pieter-Dirk Uys’ one-man memoir – The Echo of a Noise – is coming to the Little Theatre in PE: 26,27,28 February at 7pm. Book Computicket / Tickets R130

Pieter-Dirk Uys has taken South Africa by storm with his provocative and deeply personal memoir The Echo of a Noise. It is a story that aches to be heard and Uys knows how to keep his audiences on the very edge of their seats waiting to hear about the great influences in his life: his father Hannes Uys and mother Helga Bassel, and of course his unlikely pen friend, the beautiful Sophia Loren. Audiences are given the opportunity to celebrate a life well lived in all its emotional states. Uys has played to full houses and sold out seasons. His masterful story telling, wit and wisdom are generously shared. As with so many of his performances he takes his audiences into his confidence, breaks the rules and crosses boundaries. Since the moment he first stepped on stage in the 1970s, Uys has been a voice where others have demanded silence. Jokes about the censor board being his own personal public relations department, gently disguise the reality that each time he tread the boards, he crossed lines and stepped on quite dangerous toes. He has always used humour as a “weapon of mass distraction” and describes the laughter he evoked as a relief from the fears that shaped South African society in 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. PDU unpowdered!

PIETER-DIRK UYS / EVITA BEZUIDENHOUT & THE KAKTUS OF SEPARATE DEVELOPMENT

EVITA BEZUIDENHOUT & THE KAKTUS OF SEPARATE DEVELOPMENT
22, 23, 24 FEBRUARY at 7pm. Book at Computicket / Tickets R130
- Tannie Evita takes on the roots of our Rainbow
“Uys dons false eyelashes and presidents listen.” LA Times

Evita Bezuidenhout has been part of South Africa’s political sessions of Big Brother since 1981. A former apartheid Ambassador in the Homeland of Bapetikosweti, she is now in the kitchens of Luthuli House where she cooks for reconciliation. She has always reminded us where we come from, so that we can celebrate where we are going. But since her three grandchildren have started asking questions about the past, Tannie Evita realises that while all the people of South Africa are now free to celebrate their roots, their history and their culture, white South Africans still are rootless. Especially the Afrikaner whose official history was probably made up behind a desk in Pretoria as propaganda.
What was fake news?
How many details were alternative facts?
Did Jan van Riebeeck bring civilization to South Arica in 1652? Or was he just a Dutch convict who came to steal chickens from the Bushmen?
Why did 127 branches of the Great Trek start in Cape Town on the same afternoon?
Was English cooking the British Empire’s weapon of mass destruction during their invasion of the Cape?
Was Paul Kruger the first Broeder to practise state capture?
Was the Battle of Blood River that? Or was it a braaivleis of reconciliation?
Does the Queen of England still wear stolen goods glittering in her crown?
And why does President Donald Trump keep sending tweets asking for a personal meeting with Nelson Mandela?
The problems of the past, the issues of the day and the hopes for the future – all in the hands of the most famous white woman in the African National Congress, who now proves that there is freedom of speech in Luthuli House. It is just sometimes after speech that freedom goes.

MEDIA COMMENTS:

“With its lights and shade carefully balanced, its quirkiness countered by serious issues, and its relentless pace, Evita Bezuidenhout & the Kaktus of Separate Development has Uys at his ebullient best to entertain his audience while exercising its collective mind.” - Beverley Brommert/Cape Argus/27.6.2017

“Since the early days of Pieter-Dirk Uys’s alter ego, Tannie Evita has always reminded us where we come from, so that we can celebrate where we are going. There are laughs aplenty and with good reason, as Tannie Evita got in both off-the-cuff and scripted gems.” – Orielle Berry/Cape Times/27. 6. 2017

“The show is a tongue-in-cheek intellectual commentary that in a public service setting makes you flinch and giggle simultaneously, as Tannie Evita ridicules both the past and the present. She delights in unashamedly peeling away at the layers of privilege and prejudice in a take-no-prisoners manner … in an intriguing showcase of satire.” – Barbara Loots/Theatre Scene Cape Town/26.6.2017

“Pieter-Dirk Uys is on top form, as always, and his flair for speaking his particular style of truth to power is a positive breath of fresh air.” - Karen Rutter/Weekend Special/25.6.2017

“What is astounding, though, is the way Uys uses his improvisational skills to carry the show through. You can’t help but feel that the whole thing is a very natural conversation between friends. If the idea was to create intimacy, he succeeded.” – Adriaan Roets/Citizen/1.6.2017

“With Evita Bezuidenhout & the Kaktus of Separate Development Pieter-Dirk Uys presents a production that is as slightly woven as Afrikaner correctness, but brilliantly disrespectful and laced with a moral twist to fit into our contemporary vernacular.” Benn van der Westhuizen/What’s On in Cape Town/29.6.2017
“Weaving through the spiky material, which is delivered with an honesty that had the audience gasping, Pieter-Dirk subtly expounds his message. And yes, there is one. Democracy first. Democracy always. Dmeocracy forever.” Jennifer de Klerk/ Artslink/29.5.2017

“If anything, Uys teaches us to laugh at ourselves and not take ourselves too seriously. This an absolute treasure. The show is brilliant. * * * * * ” Leon van Nierop/Artslink/26.5.2017

SPIRITUALITY IN A FRAGMENTING WORLD AND DESERT ROSE

Sister Jayanti of the Brahma Kumaris (Europe) will be in PE for one night only.
At the Athenaeum Little Theatre, 7 Belmont Terrace, Cnr Belmont Terrace & Castle Hill, Central.
From 7PM - There is no charge for the Event.

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27th CLOVER SHOWTIME REVUE

A Grand Night for Singing has Marlene Pieterse directing once more, with Wayne Hughes back as Musical and Vocal Director. As the revue features a separate troupe of six dancers, their routines and all choreography will be staged by Siobhan Day. She has won several Clover Showtime Awards at both Senior and Junior levels
The revue, which this year focuses on the many songs with music by Richard Rodgers, in the first half of the show with lyrics by Lorenz "Larry" Hart and after interval with Oscar Hammerstein II, has a core cast led by last year's Showtime debutantes Shannon Hubbard and James van der Merwe, supported by new Showtimers Abi Ranwell, Amber April, Kayla Mathiesen, Isabella Rosochacki, Kerry-Lee Jeffrey, Kyrah Lloyd, Kyla Smith and Arthur Daniels.

The dancers are Britney Shaw, Gia Smith, Kayla Auld, Rachel Parker, Skye Phillips and Ma-Bell Muller, who performed in the 2015 edition, Walkn' Happy.

Also, back are a group of Charlo Primary School pupils, Anneke Pienaar, Dane' van Dyk, Kaylin Roberts, Lea Carelse, Lene' Scheepers, Meagan Vogel, Dillon Roberts, Jared Doubell and Sam Vos.
Tickets for the awards nights on Tuesday, January 24 (Juniors) and Friday, January 27 (Seniors), are R70 throughout the house and the performances on Monday, January 23, and Thursday, January 26, are private houses for Senior Citizens Residences and Combined High Schools Collegiate, Pearson and Alexander Road, respectively. For the two public nights, on Wednesday, January 25, and Saturday, January 28, admission is R70 for adults and R50 for senior citizens, students and children.

Usually, with Clover Showtime booking, any form of voucher or invitation letter is only exchangeable at the Computicket box office there, but as that theatre is closed until January 19, booking can only be done, regardless of type of reservation, by e-mailing [email protected]/ 083 452 7556

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YAZI IBALI LAM - KNOW MY STORY EXHIBITION

Artworks for Youth represents Visual and Performance Arts Show by the Youth of Joe Slovo Township.

The show is free but please consider a donation so that they can continue working.

Date: Friday 1st April at 5;30 for 6PM
Venue: Athenaeum Studio 1, 7 Belmont Terrace, Central, PE

The Show runs until the 8th of April but the performance will only be on the opening night

ROOTED TO THE SOIL PRODUCTION

A theatrical production by Khanyisa Sigwanda, Marcia Ntoni and Khanyile Mgqwanci.

Wednesday and Thursday 3rd & 4th February from 11AM
Friday 5th February from 5;30 PM.

Tickets R50 at the door

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PEMADS/CLOVER SHOWTIME

The annual Showtime Awards and Revue, under the updated title of Clover Showtime: The Pleasure of Your Company, and presented in collaboration with Clover and the PEMADS, celebrates Clover Showtime's amazing 25th birthday. The show will run at the Little Theatre in Central from Friday 22nd to Saturday 30th January, with the three awards nights on Saturday, 23rd (High School Awards), Monday, 25th (Primary School Awards) and Friday, 29th (Main Amateur and Professional Awards).

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BRINGING THE BEST HOME

The National Arts Festival 2015 showcased a range of local productions and the Mandela Bay Development Agency, in association with the Athenaeum proudly brings nine of these fantastic productions back home to entertain the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay.

 

For an opportunity to experience the best local productions over a 9 day period, see the schedule of performances listed below:

 

Friday 14 August - Lefa Mosea & The Double Standards Quintet from 6 - 7:30 PM

Tuesday 18 August - "Give us this day" from 6-7PM

Wednesday 19 August - "Ghost of Glenmore" from 6-7PM

Thursday 20 August - "Lovechild Live" from 6-7PM

Friday 21 August - "Frame of Mind" from 6-7PM

Saturday 22 August - "UMLE" from 3-4PM

Saturday 22 August - "Nomhle Nongogo & Band" from 6-7Pm

Saturday 22 August - "The Brothers" from 8:30 - 9:30PM

Sunday 23 August - "Magic through the Ages" from 1-2PM

 

In The WIngs - A play about possibility

Wheelchairs are tricky things. Clumsy things. And funny things. So are lives. This is a story of two sisters as they battle to work past their limitations to create the future the rest of the world sometimes fails to see.

In the Wings is a play about purpose; about living and negotiating the everyday stuff; it’s about dreams and obstacles that get in the way of the realisation of those dreams. “In the Wings” is ultimately a story about possibility.

In The Wings is an “important production…that deliberately avoids cliché” says Steyn Du Toit from The Cape Times.

This show was nominated for two Naledi awards, one for best new comer, Danieyella Rodin and a second for best choreography by Nicola Elliott. Written by Jared Kruger, this show is inspired and loosely based on the Mycroft sisters, co-founders of The Chaeli Campaign. It is produced by the Chaeli Campaign and is touring the Eastern Cape in July partnership with Assitej SA.

"In The Wings" is an English medium performance aimed at High Schools and adult audiences.

 

On show at the Athenaeum Little Theatre on the 24th, 27th and 28th at 14h00, 24th and 25th at 19h00

R20 gets you in and If you'd like to know anything else about the performance, please contact Danieyella Rodin on [email protected]

 

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