Keep the cold at bay at theatre

A range of shows, including ballet, children’s theatre and Pieter-Dirk Uys’s dark comedy, will warm up the theatre as winter chill begins to bite.
WITH nippy weather around the corner, the Joburg Theatre Complex is readying itself to stage three hot shows – The Jungle Book, Adapt or Fly and Giselle – during the course of April.

Pieter Dirk UysPieter-Dirk Uys is on a new onslaught against a politically correct regime in Adapt or FlyKicking off the line-up is an interactive adaptation of Disney’s The Jungle Book, which starts on 30 March and will continue to enchant audiences at the People’s Theatre until 15 April.

The play is set against the backdrop of a mystical forest, where audiences will join Mowgli and his friends Bagheera and Baloo, as well as Kaa and Shere Khan, on their adventures.

This all-time kids’ classic will ensure that local audiences will not only be entertained by the magic of Kipling’s 1893 tale, but they will also be able to sing along to the songs that help bring The Jungle Book to life on stage.

According to adaptations directors Keith Smith and Jill Girard, Disney’s The Jungle Book promises audiences will boogie to all the sing-alongs. Tickets will cost R99.

Christine Service, the country manager for The Walt Disney Company Africa, said: “The Jungle Book is one of Disney’s most-loved properties in South Africa and we are thrilled that the People’s Theatre will be presenting it on stage as part of [its] children’s theatre programme.”

Adapt or Fly
Adapt or Fly by Pieter-Dirk Uys runs from 3 to 29 April at the Fringe Theatre.

Adapt or Fly sees Uys, aka Evita Bezuidenhout, on a new onslaught against a politically-correct regime. He is set to celebrate 2012 as a year of radical change in South Africa through political paralysis.

Thirty years ago Uys started his onslaught against careless, corrupt and unacceptable politics. His new show will be a personal political comedy-trek along a familiar long tiptoe to freedom, through the minefields of racism and sexism that have always made up the tarmac of the political freeway.

Laughter at fear has always been Uys's trademark, from the darkness of his first one-man show in 1982, Adapt or Die, to the dazzling kaleidoscope of rainbow colours in his new 2012 show, Adapt or Fly.

Uys will be showcasing a chorus-line of characters that include a motley medley of past National Party leaders (DF Malan, JG Strydom, HF Verwoerd, BJ Vorster, PW Botha and FW de Klerk), balanced with a quartet of ANC presidents from Nelson Mandela, via Thabo Mbeki, through Kgalema Motlanthe to Jacob Zuma and beyond.

Tickets for Adapt or Fly cost R120, while students will pay R100 and pensioners R80. Groups of 10 or more will pay R108.

Giselle
The South African Ballet Theatre (SABT) then rounds out the line-up for the month with Giselle, from 12 to 29 April on the Mandela stage.

GiselleGiselle the classical balletGiselle is the love story of a prince who falls in love with a peasant girl. The classic ballet will be brought to life on stage by some of the country’s finest ballet stars and an array of international dancers.

The SABT’s eagerly anticipated season of Giselle will be presented in partnership with Mzansi Productions and is sponsored by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.

Dancing the title role of Giselle are the SABT’s Burnise Silvius, Anya Carstens, Shannon Glover, Sanmarie Kreuzhuber, Lauryn Summerley and Nicole Ferreira.

They will be joined by Cuban ballerina Claudia Monja and Mzansi Production’s Angela Maree, who was a double finalist in the recent Cape Town International Ballet Competition.

Cast as the Prince are Cuban guest artists Nelson Nunez and Ramiro Samón (medal winner at the Cape Town International Ballet Competition), sharing the role with SABT’s Jonathan Rodrigues, Humberto Montero and James Fraser.

The role of the vengeful Queen of the Wilis will be danced by Sanmarie Kreuzhuber, Claudia Monja, Anya Carstens, and Angelique Harris.

Also appearing in this production are dancers from the SABT’s Development School in Alexandra, Tshwane and Soweto as well as members of the SABT Academy.

Tickets for Giselle range between R90 and R320. For further information visit the SABT website.

For all bookings, contact Happiness or Emelda at the Joburg Theatre on 0861 670 670, send an email to vipticketing@joburgtheatre.com or visit the Joburg Theatre Complex website.