A DOLL’S HOUSE
Christiaan Olwagen Jennifer Steyn, Martin l’Maitre, Dawid Minnaar, Anthea Thompson, Rob van Vuuren The Baxter Theatre Thursday her less-than-admirable past surfaces to disrupt the Helmers’ bourgeois bliss.
Audience sympathy is artfully manipulated to savour the flawed heroine at the expense of her chauvanistic spouse, and the two other male characters, the enigmatic Dr Rank (Minnaar) and contemptable Nils Krogstad (van Vuuren), are equally antipathetic for different reasons. It is the two females, Nora and her friend Kristine (Thompson) who, despite some sharply scripted cattiness in their initial exchange, evince any warmth and compassion.
The cast of five is admirably chosen. Steyn, as Nora, gleams with authority in a complex role opposite Martin l’Maitre’s perfectly calibrated Torvald.
Thompson gives a credible and sensitive portrayal of Kristine, while Minnaar is brilliant in the challenging role of Rank. Rob van Vuuren brings a well-judged blend of caricature and insight to his reading of Krogstad.
While the play offers no surprises to those familiar with Ibsen’s text, the energy driving this production gives it the power to engross
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This deftly directed adaptation of A Doll’s House, somewhere between farce and thought-provoking comedy, about issues still relevant today, offers rewarding theatre.
Ibsen would have approved. LIKE the curate’s egg, this latest trio of short plays in the themed Anthology series is “good in parts”. In other words, its quality is uneven, varying from brilliant to forgettable. That is true of the works themselves rather than the calibre of the acting or direction.
As usual, Viljoen delivers handsomely in his treatment of the pieces, while the youthful duo of Naidoo and Gericke show commitment and talent in performances of integrity.
On opening night, Roux’s darkly eccentric Coma Null was up first, with Naidoo portraying an insectobsessed, neurotic soul with a compulsion to write down everything that comes to mind, from the trivial to the lifechanging. He is hardly the stuff of an ideal partner, particularly when yoked to a worldweary woman (Gericke) who happens to be the bread-winner of their unpromising ménage. To their credit, and that of their director, they avoid the pitfall of caricature and lend their personae a degree of credibility.
On their final exit, however, one is left pondering what this cameo of a seriously dysfunctional relationship is trying to say. Perhaps nothing, in the tradition of absurdist theatre?
The middle playlet, Conrad’s Reparations, is, on the other hand, both entertaining and thought-provoking, with Greek tragedy infusing contemporary South African politics: a young white person is randomly selected as a sacrificial lamb to atone for the wrongs of the past, and we are treated to the bristling interaction between the unwilling victim (Gericke) and the vain, self-felicitating and highly abusive emcee appointed to officiate at the “ceremony” (Naidoo). These roles could hardly be more different from those of Coma Null, and one has the impression that both actors are thoroughly relishing their interpretation.
Political incorrectness abounds, and Viljoen keeps the pace brisk; this is engrossing theatre.
To round off, we have Louw’s Eat, Dear, which will resonate with every young person waiting tables while hoping for better things careerwise.
Here, Gericke as the new recruit in a trendy restaurant and Naidoo in a variety of roles from patron to boss of the establishment, confirm their impressive versatility. With little help from props (one couch does duty in assorted guises in all three plays) and underwhelming costumes bordering on the grotesque in Naidoo’s case, the pair engage their audience throughout this amusing mini-satire.
This Anthology might not be up to the standard of previous shows in the series, but it is worth a visit.