Tragicomedy MATE Opens for Weekend Run at Alexander Upstairs Tonight

MATE, a tragicomedy written and directed by Samantha Gray, will play the Alexander Upstairs from tonight for a three-performance run this weekend. Gray performs in the piece herself alongside Alicia McCormick.

Dating in your 30s is kak. MATE walks through the cesspit of love, heartbreak, hope and all the grey bits in between. Sometimes crass, loud mouthed and white knuckled, MATE gets stuck in there and tackles dating, dining, sixty-nine-ing and matters of the heart. Set in a "Love Recovery" workshop, we meet three women experiencing the raw and painfully humorous realities of single life. All true stories. No animals were harmed in the making of this production.

Alicia McCormick is the straight-laced alter ego of Burlesque sensation Cookie von Tastee and was most recently seen in the well-loved boot-scootin' cowboy cabaret ANGELS ON HORSEBACK: RELOADED as well as the cult hit and Standard Bank Ovation Award-winning comedy DIRTY WORDS. Other credits include THE THINGS YOU LEFT BEHIND, a Silver Standard Bank Ovation award-winner in 2014, as well as the comedies AN ABSOLUTE TURKEY and HITCHED.

Samantha Gray is the writer-performer of a critically acclaimed one-woman show, A WOMAN'S BUM IS LIKE THE MOON, which was her debut work as a theatre-maker. She is an award-winning filmmaker, having won Best South African Short Film at the Cape Winelands Film Festival.

MATE plays the Alexander Upstairs from tonight through 24 June at 21:00 nightly. Tickets are available from the Alexander Bar website, with seats costing R100 if booked and prepaid online or R110 if paid on collection at the bar. For telephone enquiries, call 021 300 1652. The Alexander Bar, Café and Theatre is situated at 76 Strand Street in the Cape Town city centre and can be followed on Facebook and Twitter.