Tuesdays with Morrie is Superb

Peter Feldman

Two outstanding South African actors bring to the Johannesburg stage an engagingly crafted piece of theatre that truly touches the soul.

Played by the consummate Graham Hopkins and the younger Asher Stoltz, it is a magnificent portrait of life, written by Mitch Albom that effortlessly blends comedy, drama and poignancy into a cohesive whole.

A good slice of the success of this two-hander should also go to director Alan Swerdlow who manages to siphon into his production the essence of one's humanity; the taking and the giving.

This is life. We grow up, we get old and we die. This process forms the basic framework around which this play has been conceived. It is not miserable or depressing. It is full of life and it works wonderfully well on all levels.

Written for the stage by Mitch Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher, and based on Albom's best-selling book, "Tuesdays with Morrie" is a veritable feast for both the mind and the heart. The players, working within Niall Griffin's simple but effective set with its minimum of props, manage to create Morrie's little world and they execute it with immense artistry and joy.

The story is about a young man Mitch (Stoltz) who meets a professor Morrie Schwartz (Hopkins) when he signs up for one of his classes at Brandeis University. They understand each and throughout his college career Mitch and Morrie forge a strong bond.

When it comes time for Mitch to leave and make his way in the world he promises Morrie that he will keep in touch. He doesn't. It is sixteen years before Mitch and Morrie meet again. By this time Mitch is a successful sportswriter and Morrie is dying of Lou Gehrig's disease.

Once they renew their friendship Mitch's visits to Morrie become a regular thing. He flies from Detroit to Boston

The writing is precise and captures the feelings and emotions about our own mortality. Says Morrie: "Dying is not a dirty word - I can live with that."

In another instance he intones words to the effect that dying is only one thing to be unhappy about, while living your life unhappily is something else."

It never ceases to amaze me the depth and range of Graham Hopkins' acting and in his sensitive reading of the Morrie character he brings tears to the eyes. He creates an endearing entity from the moment we meet him. He is witty and wise without being overbearing. Stoltz, whose stature grows with each outing, provides a nice balance to the story, adding a performance that is calm and measured.

The acting styles of the performers complement each other and through this link take the audience on an inspiring journey of compassion and understanding.

The two characters command the stage for the entire production, almost two hours, and the fact that one does not grow tired of watching them and hearing some of the wisdom that flows is stark testimony to the true enchantment of "Tuesdays with Morrie."
every week and has Tuesdays with Morrie. And during these visits he begins to learn some of the secrets of life - and death.

Duet for One is deeply touching

Peter Feldman

05/14/2010 10:54:00

Peter Feldman: "Duet for One" is a remarkable two-hander which explores the emotional conflict that besets a young violinist who is struck down by multiple sclerosis.

Tom Kempinski's eloquently framed play is the perfect vehicle for players who possess the skills to hold you enraptured for more than two hours. Very little happens in dramatic terms during this period, but the flow of ideas between the wheel-chair bound musician, Stephanie Abrahams, and German psychiatrist, Dr Alfred Feldmann, is what commands your attention.

In Clare Mortimer, an actress based in Durban, and Michael Richard, director Steven Stead has more than accomplished players with whom to work - he has truly great thespians well schooled in the techniques of pace, pause, power and polish.

These important facets are brought together in the creation of this play as the two characters get down to the serious business of discussing life and living.

Inspired by the life of the famed cellist Jacqueline du Pré and her relationship with her husband, Daniel Barenboim, the author has constructed an engrossing and deeply touching psychological drama in which the performances of these two superb players shine through in their every word and gesture.

The 33-year-old Stephanie Abrahams is at first reluctant to reveal the inner turmoil she is undergoing, but he is a wise old psychiatrist whose relaxed, almost non-committal pose masks his deeper concerns for his patient and she relents.

She has to find a way forward now that her playing days are over. She has been suffering with the crippling disease for seven months before going to visit Dr Feldmann. She describes music as the purest expression of humanity, a kind of heaven that lifts you to another place, and her inability to create this state has had a demoralising effect on her psyche. She had thoughts of suicide.

The intelligent interplay between the two characters and the subtle use of pause and body language are telling factors in enriching the experience.

Michael Richard, an actor I have long admired for his versatility, again shows the skills and understanding that have made him such a highly regarded performer and in Dr Feldmann he has shaped a believable entity.

Clare Mortimer is outstanding and is able to convey the anxiety and fear that bubbles just below the surface.

Greg King's set is an evocative one and beautifully captures the look and feel of a cultured doctor's consulting room. The sound and lighting are both spot on.

"Duet for One" provides a wonderfully uplifting evening for discerning theatre-goers.


Duet for One is at the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square, Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton until 5 June.

Theatre: Master Harold and the Boys

Mar 23, 2010 12:20 AM | By Refiloe Lepere

Self-exploration is never easy, and James Ngcobo's version of Athol Fugard's autobiographical production, Master Harold and the Boys is a gentle, unsympathetic portrayal of this kind of analysis.

The play opens with a servant Willie (Nat Ramabulana) setting up the tearoom with cakes, a jukebox, tables and chairs. He is joined by Sam ( Pakamisa Zwedala).

Even though the story is more a personal tale of Fugard's childhood, it has resonance with anyone who has experienced oppression.

Set in the 1950s, the play looks at the minute expressions of racial interaction and oppression. Father mistreats wife and son, son ill-treats the servants, servant abuses his wife, and the chain of abuse goes on.

In a simple setting, Harold Jnr, or Hally, played by Daniel Buckland, is a teenager who comes for lunch at the family-owned tea-room.

The news that Hally's invalid, alcoholic father is to be allowed home from hospital upsets him deeply. He suddenly turns on his best friends, the boys Willie and Sam.

The shock of this racist outburst shows how the political and social realities of South Africa at that time came to distort and dominate our closest relationships and, in some cases, still do.

Ramabulana, who has starred in theatre and TV productions, including Isidingo , said that when he encountered the play, he was moved by the powerful, honest and emotional tale.

"As an actor the challenge was to show the stories of these men in a respectful and real manner because they did exist and their stories were important to them," he said.

The real test for this 26-year-old was how to portray a 40-year-old and be sensitive to his weariness, and understand his personal struggle amid the world's torments.

Master Harold and the Boys is on at the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square, Nelson Mandela Square, Johannesburg. It runs until April 10.

Master Harold... And The Boys

Leon van Nierop
03/23/2010 09:22:30


Leon van Nierop: If you want to see indigenous theatre at its very best, do yourself a favour and get a ticket to this brilliant local production.

Athol Fugard's devastating three-hander takes place in the claustrophobic St George's Park tearoom in Port Elizabeth in the Fifties where two waiters and the son of the owner battle it out during a 90-minute Communion of the souls.

The upstart Harold (brilliantly played by Daniel Buckland) initially seems to blend into the conversation with deceptive ease, but seems to hide a deep resentment not only towards his parents, but also to the two workers and society which at this point in time seems too big for him to fully comprehend.

Where he starts off by chatting to them about familiar matters of the day, the conversations takes a turn for the vicious as he first belittles his bed-ridden, alcoholic father and then spats out his racial prejudice and arrogant teenage incompetence towards these two dignified men who are victims of the inhuman apartheid laws. In the process this seemingly liberal young man is exposed as the biggest bigot of them all whose words fly like bullets through the air and hit bull's eye with every turn.

Fugard's powerful words, lean narrative and forceful characterisation all blend perfectly in James Ncobo's elegant and stylish directing in which he uses the small stage and rather limited space to full effect. One feels locked up with these three men who battle it out in a war of words that leaves the audience devastated and in a state of shock. Ncobo perfectly succeeds in involving the audience fully by locking them up with these characters especially since the audience has the foreknowledge of a new millennium and its new challenges while looking back at the problems of the past.

The acting is of the highest standard with Pakamisa Zwedala and Nat Ramabulana balancing the youthful rage of a young man on the brink of self-destruction and the destructive effects of his actions on two innocent men.

This is, without a doubt, one of the major events in the theatre calendar and deserves to be seen.

Master Harold... And The Boys
With Pakamisa Zwedala, Daniel Buckland and Nat Ramabulana
Director: James Ngcobo
Venue: The Old Mutual Theatre on the Square until April 10

Athol Fugard for a new generation

Peter Feldman
03/23/2010 09:12:48


Peter Feldman: "Master Harold ... and the Boys" has resurfaced in Johannesburg after a number of years.

It has a new director, a new cast and a fresh look by director James Ngcobo at one of Athol Fugard's most celebrated works.

The last time I recall seeing this production was more than 20 years ago at the Market Theatre and it left an indelible mark because it encapsulated a South Africa of the 50s viewed through the eyes of a noted playwright who was fuelled by incidents from his own childhood.

Apartheid was still very much alive when this play was written and when I first saw it Fugard's commentary proved a stinging indictment of South Africa's apartheid policy at the time. It hit home like a sledgehammer because it reduced grand apartheid to more human terms.

This new production still retains the elements that made the original ground-breaking work and the acting is just as intense.

The world has changed certainly since the play was first premiered with the demise of apartheid, but the universal theme of brotherhood between men still exists.

James Ngcobo's production proves that the power and quiet majesty of this play has not diminished with time -even though the impact is not as compelling.

One of the shining lights of this version is Pakamisa Zwedala as Sam, the older and wiser of the two black servants working at St George's Tea Room in Port Elizabeth in 1950. He commands the stage with compassion and understanding and his interaction with Daniel Buckland's Hally is a beautifully balanced reading as the mood changes dramatically from chummy light-hearted banter between master and servant to a more menacing confrontation which places politics into its truer perspective.

Sam and his fellow worker, the more subservient Willie (Nat Ramabulana), have served Hally's mother in the tea room for years and there's a certain rapport that exists between them and the boy Hally. They behave as old friends should, knowing that certain boundaries between appropriateness and offence are there, yet still discovering a few new ones as circumstances dictate.

A brilliantly executed aspect of the play is when Hally contrives to write his school paper using ballroom dancing as a metaphor for race relations.

The production is solid and highly entertaining, yet a slightly worrying aspect is Daniel Buckland whose physical appearance as a teenager isn't convincing.

Hally is a potent character whose destructive streak manifests after he is told by his mother that his crippled and alcoholic father is about to return home from hospital - a signal for Hally to lash out at his workers.

Where the play eventually stands or falls is in the pivotal scene where a blistering exchange takes place between Hally and Sam, his surrogate father, which leaves Hally in a confused state of mind - and this is superbly executed.

As Willie, Nat Ramabulana, provided a consistent performance in what is the play's least textually showy role.

Also, Wesley France's subtle mood lighting, Thando Lobese's costumes, Gregory Maqoma's choreography and Nadya Cohen's evocative set, complete with a jukebox, all contributed towards creating a picture of a world where, unsurprisingly, nothing is simply black and white.

A new generation of theatre-goers will certainly derive benefit from watching a master storyteller at work whose use language is simple but always effective.


"Master Harold ... and the Boys" is on at the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square, Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton, until 10 April.

Getting acquainted with Jacques Brel

Lesley Stones
02/18/2010 13:14:41


Lesley Stones finally catches up on a musical secret that everyone else seems to know.

Brel, who's Brel? I hear you ask.

Oh, so you already know. Perhaps it's just me then who had never heard of Jacques Brel before. But it turns out that I do know some of his songs, which are being performed with absolute panache in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.

Quite why I'm familiar with a song about drunken, brawling, whoring sailors in Amsterdam is a mystery. But I've certainly heard it before. And as several other songs began there was also a frisson of familiarity about them.

Brel must have had quite a life. His lyrics are stories as much as songs, and tell of love gone and love gone wrong, war and death, drinking and dying. There's even a song about losing his virginity in an army brothel, although that traumatic experience clearly didn't put him off women for long.

They're lyrics you really have to listen to, but the listening is a pure pleasure with four excellent singers and a perfect backing band. Some of the songs are still in their native French, and sound terribly sophisticated even if you're struggling to comprehend as well as listen. Most have been translated into English, and they're wordy, clever lyrics that spin fascinating tales of human frailties.

The stage setting has a mellow cabaret feel, with rich curtains and few chairs and a table for the props. The lighting by Jane Gosnell is absolutely perfect, and so good that you actually notice the atmosphere it creates. When veteran showman Graham Clarke jumps onto a box to sing The Statue his features become almost grotesquely stone-like in the dramatic lighting. In fact Clarke's face is perfectly suited to many of Brel's songs, with his lived-in, worn-out features.

The younger David Chevers is equally suited to the tales about Brel's earlier life, while Chrissy Caine brings a worldy, knowing attitude to songs such as The Old Folks, a moving tale of the decline of man into sadness and senility.

The hit of the show, however, was the brilliant Deneel Uys. Her mischievous face is wonderful for the quirky Carousel and suitably anxious for Timid Frieda. When the opening bars for Ne Me Quitte Pas began, practically the entire audience gave a flutter of recognition, and the performance by Uys was fabulous. We nearly cried right with her.

That's when the band was at its best too. The whole show demands precision and delicacy from its musicians, and the melancholy double bass adds a moodiness that enhances the words magnificently.

One song runs into the next with no dialogue between, so its not a musical revue as much as a showcase for the songs of one man. That will probably limit its appeal to people already familiar with his work, but considering that the show ran for two decades after it first opened here in the 1970s to become the most enduring musical revue in South African history, that should guarantee a pretty enormous audience.

Whether many newcomers will take a chance and book a ticket for a songwriter they've never heard of is debatable, but I'm certainly glad that I did.


Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris runs at Sandton's Theatre on the Square until March 13.

Stunning Jacques Brel hits the high notes

Peter Feldman
02/18/2010 13:55:11



Peter Feldman: "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" is a perennial favourite.

It has been staged in South Africa over the years in a variety of forms, though very few ever managed to attain the status of Taubie Kushlick's early, innovative productions at the old Chelsea Theatre in Hillbrow.

Directors Colin Law and Dean Roberts have based this production on the 2006 Off-Broadway show. It has been resurrected for a new generation and though the feel is modern and meaningful it still retains the essence of Brel with brilliant clarity.

The songs, as many know, are all dramatic monologues that cannot simply be sung, but need to be acted out by a cast of superior performers.

In British singer Chrissy Caine, who has returned to these climes after a long absence, veteran Graham Clarke, and newcomers David Chevers and Daneel Uys, they have assembled a superb, integrated cast which invests Brel's special magic with the sensitivity and understanding it demands. Backed by a faultless group, under the musical direction of DuPreez Strauss, this foursome hardly falter as they interpret a famous songbook that represents Brel's many acute observations and myriad emotions. It is all there in the body language with the performers immersing themselves in the songs to stunning effect.

Over the years I've endured many variations of the Jacques Brel theme, but the combination on stage at this presentation constitutes one of the best I've seen. There is something like 26 songs in the show. These are literate, thoughtful and theatrical numbers and are given the full vocal treatment by a polished and stylish team. Many of my favourites were nicely highlighted and helped trigger memories of the ‘70s when Brel first became known to audiences in this part of the world.

One of my best is "Ne Me Quitte Pas," a wistful song, with its alternating happy and sad lyrics, which became a pop standard for so many international singers, was sensitively handled by the impressive Daneel Uys. She also showed her range with the mix of " I Loved," "My Death," "Timid Frieda," "Girls and Dogs" and the popular "Carousel."

Graham Clarke's handling of "Fanette" ""Amsterdam," "Funeral Tango" and "Sons of Lovers" showed his versatile streak, while the imposing David Chevers took complete control of the whore song "Next" and "The Bulls." Chrissy Caine has always been a class act and her renditions of "Le Diable," "My Childhood" and "The Old Folks" struck deep within the soul.

This version of "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well" certainly struck a warmly responsive chord within this reviewer, a feeling of which I really haven't had too much of lately.


"Jacques Brel is Alive and Well" is on at the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square, Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton, until March 13.