WRAAKENGEL

First Afrikaans entry on Musho Festival offers physical theatre at its best. (Review by Maurice Kort)

For the first time, the Musho Festival has an Afrikaans entry written by Sjaka Septembir and Floyed de Vaal and directed by the former. Although it is a two-hander, the action and acting are by Floyed de Vaal who portrays all the characters, often in lightning succession.

The play starts off dramatically with a suicide which is subsequently investigated by her fiancée, Barend Blydestroom, in the small town of Roodeplaats. Further characters depicted by Floyed de Vaal are many, including Mevrou van Zyl, Marietjie, Isobel and Oskar Wessels, and even birds and dogs, as well as many sound effects, notably the lift doors opening and closing and the lift moving. He does a huge amount of walking, running and driving his car, until it breaks down. This is physical theatre and mime at their best. Strange events start to plague Barend as the story progresses.

The other member of the cast is Gertjie Besselsen, very much on the side giving the musical accompaniment and further sound effects, on many musical instruments, including, but not limited to, a piano accordion, a guitar, a drum and a Jews harp(?). The two work extremely well together, often almost as one person.

The play could do with some judicial trimming as it is a trifle long at 90 minutes with far too much walking, albeit mimed superbly by Floyed de Vaal, perhaps therein lies the fault, he does it too well.

The second performance of Wraakengel will be on January 11 at 14h00 at the Bat Hall Theatre. – Maurice Kort