THE SATURDAY INTERVIEW

mentary working relationship that has proved richly rewarding.

What is surely doubly ironic is that when Pool finished school and set out to make his way in the world, Le Roux begged him not to follow her into the world of theatre and film. They laugh about it today. Pool said: “When I came of age and had to decide what to study, my mom kept saying, ‘ Don’t go into theatre and film!’ ”

But it was “inevitable”, having grown up “in that environment”. Pool’s father, Alan Pool, died when the designer-to-be was not yet two years old, and Le Roux began working extensively in film to earn enough money to raise her son. It meant Pool spent a lot of time on film sets and, at home, breathing in the world of theatre and design.

Today, they are noted collaborators, in theatre and film work.

Le Roux said: “I think I have always been better designing costumes than sets, so it’s nice that Rocco is around because we have the same kind of aesthetic. He is young, he has a different perception and I get a lot from him.”

The pair have plenty to be happy about in a collaboration that, over the years, has earned them acclaim and awards.

Pretoria-born Le Roux, who studied theatre design at Pretoria University and cut her teeth in the “exciting” world of the People’s Space Theatre in Cape Town’s Long Street in the 1980s, latterly formed a lasting working relationship with directors Janice Honeyman and the late Johan Engels, later based in Britain.

She “migrated back to theatre” once Pool had grown up, and they have worked closely since.

Le Roux’s work as a costume designer has been seen in cities all over the world. She won the Fleur du Cap for Best Costume Design for David Kramer’s musical Orpheus in Africa and has designed costumes for numerous productions such as Kramer’s Kanala, currently on at the Fugard Theatre, West Side Story, which is about to open in Johannesburg, Lara Foot’s The Inconvenience of Wings, John Kani’s Missing, and Janni Young’s The Firebird, which toured widely overseas.

Pool, who studied stage management at Stellenbosch University, has also won award nominations and acclaim for his set designs, and has worked with celebrated directors such as Jaco Bouwer and Christiaan Olwagen, and worked with seasoned set designer Saul Radomsky as associate designer for the Fugard Theatre on Athol Fugard’s latest play, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek.

Among recent Le Roux-Pool

PICTURE: ENRICO JACOBS Birrie le Roux and Rocco Pool, mother and son, are noted collaborators in theatre and film.