‘ Taking ‘jack and jill’ to appealing terrain
New two-hander play examines love, life and art
AFTER matriculating from Stirling High School he graduated from Rhodes University with a drama degree and now up-and-coming actor Ryan de Villiers, 24, is appearing in a fresh new play at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown called jack and jill. well as an international series. I’ve also been in two theatre productions and am busy with my third, jack and jill. But without a doubt, this work does not always pay the bills and there are often gaps where you might find yourself twiddling your thumbs. So I’ve worked as a waiter (classic), a yoga instructor, a masseuse, and even an English tutor in Italy for a few months. performed in the festival before. It’s therefore a festival that’s familiar to us and close to a home we once shared together. We also saw it as a good platform to premier a piece as it is the biggest arts festival in the country and attracts some of the country’s best artists.
Simply put, it’s about love, life and art. But the characters are far from simple. It’s about two Cape Town-based millennial artists who live their lives as if they are being watched through a camera lens or read about in a romantic novel. They fear boredom and being boring, so they try very hard to make their lives interesting, even if that means suffering for their art. They, like Van Gogh, “would rather die of passion than of boredom”. It was written by Kate Pinchuck and I contributed to the script.
The play will definitely appeal to millennials. Anyone over 16 really. Kate has incorporated a lot of relevant material in the piece that everyone can relate to and laugh about as well. We’ll be doing six shows at the festival (July 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8)
We are hoping that people will pull through this year. There's always talk that the attendance has not been as good as people have hoped which is so sad. It’s really a one-of-a kind festival. To have our National Arts Festival in a picturesque Eastern Cape dorpie is such an honour, so I really do urge Eastern Cape residents to put in the effort to go and see some quality theatre (don’t just go to the markets – go and see beautiful creations).
We are planning on touring jack and jill after Grahamstown. Besides that, Kate and I have also started on a web series that we hope to launch soon. I also have some short film and other theatre projects that I’m looking forward to developing.
● jack and jill is on at the Masonic Front from Saturday until next Saturday. Tickets cost R50. —