Anna-Mart van der Merwe stars in South African Premiere of Acclaimed Florian Zeller Play THE MOTHER at The Fugard

After a critically acclaimed sell-out season of Florian Zeller's THE FATHER with Marius Weyers, Anna-Mart van der Merwe will star in the South African premiere of Zeller's companion piece THE MOTHER. As in the case of THE FATHER, Christopher Hampton's internationally acclaimed translation of THE MOTHER from French will premiere at the Fugard Studio Theatre.

THE MOTHER introduces Anne, a woman who loved that time in her life when she prepared breakfast each morning for her two young children, Sara and Nicholas. Now they have grown up, with lives and loves of their own. Spending hours alone, Anne's world falls in on her. Has her son Nicholas, always her favourite, really come back home? And what of her suspicions about her husband?

An Eric Abraham and Fugard Theatre production,THE MOTHER will be directed by Janice Honeyman with an all South African cast headed by Anna-Mart van der Merwe (THE PAINTED ROCKS AT REVOLVER CREEK, MACBETH.SLAAPLOOS, BEGEERTE) as Anne. Graham Hopkins (JEEVES AND WOOSTER IN PERFECT NONSENSE, VIGIL, MY LOW-FAT ALMOST ITALIAN WEDDING), Sven Ruygrok (EPSTEIN: THE MAN WHO MADE THE BEATLES, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, SPUD) and Amy Louise Wilson (THE FATHER, SCRAPE, THE YEAR OF THE BICYCLE) complete the cast in this moving portrait of a woman losing her grip on reality as her life spins out of control.

Janice Honeyman is one of South Africa's most prolific directors whose work has toured internationally to great success. She has directed opera, pantomime, musicals, children's productions, comedies and drama, and classic and contemporary works. Dramas include John Kani's plays, NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH and MISSING and many productionsof Athol Fugard's plays including EXITS AND ENTRANCES, BOOITJIE AND THE OUBAAS, DIE KAPTEIN SE TIER (translated by Antjie Krog) THE BLUE IRIS and HELLO AND GOODBYE (with Sir Antony Sher and Estelle Kohler, at the invitation of the UK's Royal Shakespeare Company). Her critically acclaimed Baxter Theatre-RSC co-production of THE TEMPEST with Sher and Kani was sold out in the UK. Musicals include Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton's THE BOYS IN THE PHOTOGRAPH and Lloyd Webber's STARLIGHT EXPRESS. Known as South Africa's pantomime queen, Janice most recently staged ROBIN HOOD AND THE BABES IN THE WOOD at the Joburg Theatre. Honeyman became a household name in the 1970s when she presented BANGALORY TIME, which she brought to the stage in BANGALORY'S BACK last year.

Florian Zeller has been described as the most exciting new theatre writer of our time. He wrote his first novel at the age of 22, and recently and uniquely had three of his acclaimed plays - THE MOTHER, THE FATHER and THE TRUTH - running in London theatres at the same time. The executive director of The Fugard Theatre, Daniel Galloway comments on this second Zeller staging at the theatre:

THE MOTHER is an extraordinary, poignant, and - as is Zeller's style, often amusing - exploration of the mind of what happens when the anchors in our life start shifting. It is fitting to be presenting this as the companion piece to Zeller's THE FATHER which is currently being staged in our Fugard Studio.

THE MOTHER will run at the Fugard Studio Theatre, from 7 February until 4 March 2017 on Tuesdays to Saturdays at 20:00 with a 16:00 matinee on Saturdays. The Fugard Theatre is situated in the heart of District Six, on the corner of Harrington and Caledon Streets, Cape Town. Tickets cost R130-R160 and can be booked online at Computicket, by phone on 0861 915 8000 or at any Shoprite Checkers outlet. Bookings can also be made at the Fugard Theatre's box office on 021 461 4554. There is a generous 15% discount available for the Friends of The Fugard members.

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