Louw lives, breathes musical theatre
IN HIGH school Dolly Louw would talk to herself or the walls and mirrors around her. She wasn’t losing it, she was acting out scenes she had created.
“I guess that is when it started, the acting bug, before I made the decision to go and study musical theatre. I loved dancing, singing and acting and I couldn’t make a choice. I didn’t even know there was an industry called musical theatre at the time. I stumbled into it and fell in love,” said Louw.
The first professional production she worked on was The Buddy Holly
Story at The Barnyard Theatre in 2007. “We used to have shows in college at TUT for exams but my first professional one was exhilarating. Just the energy from a real audience was amazing.”
Louw lives and breathes musical theatre.
“The hustle of trying to have work and balancing your love for it is quite the challenge, but this is what I do and I have been doing it for 13 years now.” Louw’s ninth pantomime, Cinderella, is set to run from October 31 at the Joburg Theatre. It stars Desmond Dube and Connie Chiume.
“In February 2007, I auditioned independently for a pantomime and it was a relationship I didn’t know would last this long. I got a call back in that same week and my relationship with the theatre, Bernard Jay and Janice (Honeyman) took off from there.”
Pantomimes are not your typical theatre productions.
“I love this style. I never thought
I would fall in love with it because some people frown upon it. For me it is deeper than that. It’s the comedy and the work you put in. I fell in love with the elements within it; the kids coming to see the show, the adults enjoying it in the same way and the magic of it all, it is beautiful.
“We put the shows together in three weeks. We do three weeks of hardcore eight-hour rehearsals. In week four, we put it altogether with the sets and lights and everything else needed.”
Louw will be part of the ensemble cast of Cinderella.
“I have never done Cinderella… I am understudying the fairy, not playing a big role this year. I am a wallflower at the back making everything else beautiful.”