Jaime Uranovsky

This show blew me away. Days after having witnessed it, I am still ruminating over the lushness of it all. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve experienced a few pieces this year that deal with or draw from Greek mythology.

The Masque continues its tradition of whacky fairytale fun for the summer holidays and presents RED RIDING HOOD - fun for all the family this festive season. The Masque’s annual holiday show always features a quirky take on a popular story.

MY LEFT BREAST is a one-woman show, starring Shannon Esra as Susan, a “one-breasted, menopausal, Jewish, bisexual, lesbian mom” as the character emphatically states during this engaging comedy-drama.

INVISIBLE SCARS is another superb piece showing at the Baxter Theatre Centre, which has its roots in the annual Zabalaza Theatre Festival. Written and directed by Themba Baleni, the show garnered Zabalaza Awards for both Best Production and Best Direction earlier this year.

There are, unfortunately, many marginalised individuals in South Africa – people who remain forgotten, despite the immense contributions they have made to this country. Black members of the (then) South African Defence Force, who fought for the country during apartheid, constitute one such group.

Darkroom Contemporary Dance Theatre presents a truly unique experience with this show. Audience members are guided to an industrial-looking studio/warehouse. We immediately observe six performers moving frantically on a platform. Each has a bob-style haircut, and the uniformity in look and the frenetic nature of the movements suggest cyborgs.

TRIAL AND ERROR follows 19-year-old Amari Davids (played by Mamello Makhetha) of Georgia, who stands trial for negligence and manslaughter (culpable homicide in South Africa), after being involved in a car accident that leaves two people dead

I’ve loved Greek mythology since I was little. This probably had a lot to do with Rick Riordan’s fabulous Percy Jackson series. It’s been a while since I engaged with the content and this production sucked me right back in and reminded me how enchanting Greek mythology is. But it takes a special kind of show to outdo sacred childhood nostalgia.

Agatha Christie’s hit novel, DEATH ON THE NILE, has spawned multiple film adaptations, most recently Kenneth Branagh’s 2022 take on the modern classic. Of lesser knowledge, however, is that Christie personally adapted DEATH ON THE NILE for the stage, renaming it MURDER ON THE NILE.

Review: HOLLYWOOD at Theatre on the Bay Is Another LAMTA “Blockbuster”

Of the four baked Shakespeare productions that have been staged in Cape Town since 2021, I have been lucky enough to have seen three of them. 2024’s show, THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA is, in my book, the group’s best production yet and provides a fun, relaxed, and interactive night at the theatre.

GOLDEN GIRLS is one of those TV shows – you know the ones I mean. Those with a fan base whose members would murder to preserve the sanctity of the show in question. It was brave then to stage a show comprising four episodes of this beloved sitcom – but it proved an excellent choice because GOLDEN GIRLS at the Masque Theatre is superb.

I’ve always loved seeing plays at the Flipside at the Baxter. Something about observing a production performed in the actual backstage area of the theatre makes me feel like I’m on hallowed ground – I’m somewhere that is sacred, special and usually off limits to the public. These feelings became even more heightened during TROUBLE IN MIND.

Most of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals comprise a large cast and elaborate sets. TELL ME ON A SUNDAY is different: this understated, one-woman musical tells the story of Emma, a Brit who journeys to America to find a man and who ends up finding herself along the way.

Just because you saw ROUND OF APPLAUSE in 2023 does not mean that you’re exempted from seeing Round 2.0. On the contrary, the follow-up to Marianne Thamm’s performative journalism is an absolute must – especially for those who attended last year’s show. It’s one of those rare occasions when the sequel is somehow even better than the original.

YOUR PERFECT LIFE took audiences by storm when it made its debut at the National Arts Festival in 2019. The production, which is loosely inspired by the lives of the two writers and performers, Erika Breytenbach-Marais and Faeron Wheeler, snatched up two Standard Bank Ovation Awards – one in 2019 and another in 2021.

While there are three mini-operas within the SHORTS programme, this reviews centres around two of them: LA VOIX HUMANE and THE IMPRESARIO. Over the last couple of years, I have been lucky enough to attend various operas staged in Cape Town. They are magnificent: grand and opulent.

Shakespeare’s OTHELLO, written in the early 1600s, predates traditional notions of decoloniality and, arguably, colonialism itself. Nonetheless, it is a text that, some contend, contains a built-in decolonial perspective or, at the very least, lends itself to be staged through this lens.

During my adolescence, the annual one-act play festival held at my high school was the highlight of my academic year. So, whenever I hear that a one-play festival is being staged, I am filled with excitement and nostalgia. For the first time, the Masque Theatre has introduced what will become its annual one-act play festival, providing local playwrights with an opportunity to stage their original works. I was delighted to attend two such plays.

I knew going into THE GOOD DAD that this production was not going to make for easy watching. And it doesn’t. The subject matter is rough and audience members should know that sexual abuse and rape are prominent topics in this piece of theatre. That being said, the piece is superb and should not be missed.