Jaime Uranovsky

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.

Cape Town Opera presents a Puccini double-bill of operas: SUOR ANGELICA and GIANNI SCHICCHI. Each opera runs for just under an hour, with an interval in between. The two operas are vastly different – SUOR ANGELICA, despite containing comedic moments, is ultimately tragic.

It is always gratifying to witness performers staging highly technical artforms, like ballet, and giving them fresh, local twists. THE GOLD RHINO OF MAPUNGUBWE BALLET is such an example. The show tells the story of Van Graan, a white man in the 1930s who embarks on a journey to discover the treasures of the ancient civilisation of Mapangubwe.

LEGALLY BLONDE needs little introduction: based on the cult-classic movie of the early 2000s, the story follows blonde bombshell Elle Woods to Harvard Law School as she attempts to win back her ex-boyfriend, Warner Huntington III.  However, Elle’s love story ends up being about so much more than ‘getting the boy’.

EAT THE STARS runs as part of the IN THE DARK season, which in turn takes place from 15 to 25 February at venues around Cape Town, and which is presented by Theatre Arts. This innovative piece of theatre is a “meditation in dance, poetry, and space on the metaphor of human stories in a cosmic context. The light we’re made of. The light inside.

At the outset, I beg potential patrons of this production not to avoid this play just because they cannot understand Afrikaans – this would be a grave error. The subtitles are comprehensive and, if you choose seats with a little height, you will have the perfect spot from which to observe the action while glancing at the English translations.

If you have read any of my LAMTA show reviews before, you’ll know that I’m an avid fangirl of their productions. And while I always rave because the raving is deserved, SPRING AWAKENING, as LAMTA’s first performance of a full-scale musical, is extra special and extra rave-worthy. As always, with LAMTA shows, the energy crackles.

KING GEORGE, a new play set in the heart of Cape Town, is a battle for domination between development mogul Shane Wyntock (played by Clyde Berning) and long-time, local strip club owner, George Megalos, ‘the Godfather of Lower Woodstock’ (played by Brent Palmer).

What did our critic think of CONSTELLATIONS: THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL at Spier Wine Farm?

On 1 November, some of the cast members from the new production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC embarked on a journey to the top of majestic Table Mountain – via cable car of course; save the trekking for Act II of the show.

Is there anything more epitomic of the 1990s and early 2000s than the video store? In slightly more recent history, is there anything more epitomic of decay, decline, and dead dreams than the last of the DVD stores of the late 2010s? – dying prolonged, understated deaths: not with a bang but a whimper. BUCKET BOY is set in such a wasteland.

LA TRAVIATA needs little introduction. As one of Verdi’s most famous operas, it has moved audiences since the mid-1800s. This production, presented by Cape Town Opera and UCT Opera is no different. Indeed, the show is best described as a sensory overload (in the best way) from start to finish.

OF LOSS: HANDLE WITH CARE interrogates the ramifications of the continued exhibition of stolen African artefacts in museums around the globe. What consequences does this have on the collective and individual psyches of African people and communities? What would restitution look like? Is it even possible?

ORPHANS, while originally set in North Philadelphia, is seamlessly transplanted to Woodstock in Cape Town. This production tells the tale of brothers Treat and Phillip, two adult orphans who have lived alone in their house on Gympie Street, since their mother died in their early childhood.