More tales from Oom Schalk
Stage
OOM SCHALK, FROM THE HEART 2 SEABROOKE’S THEATRE, DHS
DAVID Muller is the latest in a line of actors, following the likes of Patrick Mynhardt, who have delighted audiences with some of Herman Charles Bosman’s humorous, ironic tales of rural life in the Groot Marico.
The Cape Town actor has now returned to the intimate Seabrooke’s theatre at Durban High School with a second selection of stories after his successful visit last year.
In fact, Muller tried to turn the auditorium into his own voorkamer, offering some members of the audience a sluk of authentic peach brandy as he continued to engage with them after the end of the show.
The title of the show is not strictly correct. Three of the five stories that Muller recounts are indeed from the lips of narrator Oom Schalk Lourens (from Mafeking Road), but the other two are the more technically ambitious “voorkamer tales”, which are effectively conversation pieces as a group of Marico worthies chatter away in Jurie Steyn’s sitting-room.
What both share, of course, is Bosman’s love of the oral tradition of storytelling, which allows him to poke fun at his characters and reflect ironically on aspects of human nature.
Bosman was a master practitioner of this art form.
As Muller notes early on in the show, good storytelling is not so much about what you say, but how you say it. The pace of the tale and what details to leave in and out are all part of it.
Muller’s performance is in the classic tradition of Bosman theatre.
He’s alone on stage with just a bench to sit on, clad in khaki and braces, wearing a pair of velskoens and gripping a pipe in his teeth.
He even plants a genuine Boer War floppy hat on his kop to complete the effect.
Oom Schalk’s three tales are The Music-Maker, Love Potion and the much-loved Willem Prinsloo’s Brandy, while the two voorkamer stories are White Ant and Go-slow Strike.
Everyone will have their favourites, but the physical requirements of relating Willem Prinsloo’s Brandy, a tale also featured in last year’s show at this theatre, bring out the best in Muller.
We follow Oom Schalk, dressed to the nines, riding to a dance in the bush, hoping to charm Grieta Prinsloo.
She has returned from finishing school, where she has learnt “English manners and dictation, and other high-class subjects”.
Of course, another attraction for local men is that Grieta’s dad makes the best peach brandy in the district.
The result is a quite delightful mix of singing, dancing, mass hangovers and a couple of strategically placed white roses.
At the end of a riotous evening, the hopeful young men discover that Grieta has absorbed more than they thought possible at her finishing school.
There were a few dodgy moments with the lighting on opening night – handled with good-humoured aplomb by Muller – but these should have been tidied up by now.
The show runs every Tuesday to Saturday at 7pm until September 19. Tickets (R100) can be bought from Clare McIlroy at 071 224 1046 or e-mail clare@webtickets.co.za.