SHEAR MADNESS

Uproariously animated whodunit returns to Catalina

One of the world’s most popular comedy-thrillers, Shear Madness, an uproariously animated whodunit, returns to the Catalina stage from May 7.

Shear Madness bemused audiences over the festive season and returns due to popular demand for a second season in May. Arguably America’s greatest theatrical success story, it combines comedy, a juicy whodunit murder mystery … opportunities for the audience to give input to help craft the script – and the resolution of the murder. The ending of the play is different every night as audience members hear clues, question the characters and solve the crime. The humour also features current affairs so the cast amend the script depending on newsworthy events of the time.

The play is set in a unisex hair salon in the city in which it plays. The landlady, famed veteran concert pianist Isabel Czerny, who lives above the shop, is murdered – stabbed with a pair of scissors. The theatre audience gets involved in the action by questioning the actors and attempting to solve the crime.

The characters include a chatty camp hairdresser, Tom Whitcomb (Marc Kay) and his flirty streetwise assistant, Barbara Demarco (Daisy Spencer), and the customers in the salon played by Claire Mortimer; Michael Gritten; Dhaveshan Govender; and Loyiso MacDonald which lead up to a madcap murder reminiscent of the Marx Brothers. The end result is a surprising mixture of audience sleuthing and up-to-the minute improvisational humour.

Prior to the first season, Durban producer / director Themi Venturas was required to travel to the States to be trained by the international team on the necessary improv skills, and briefed about the production process to ensure that the Durban production meets the international standards and that the cast have the necessary improvisation and unscripted performance skills.

Theatre producers Marilyn Abrams and Bruce Jordan acquired rights for a murder mystery originally titled Scherenschnitt, by Swiss playwright Paul Portner and adapted it into the improv masterpiece, Shear Madness. It opened in Boston, USA at the Charles Playhouse Stage II in January 1980. The Boston production is the second-longest running non-musical play in the world (after The Mousetrap), and the production at the John F Kennedy Center in Washington DC is the second longest running play ever, having opened in August 1987.

Every night the cast are giving away a Schwartzkopf product to the witness with the most outrageous hairstyle as adjudged by our suspects during the interval. The production is suitable for teenagers upwards.

Presented by Theatrebiz by arrangement with the Marton Agency and produced, directed and designed by Themi Venturas, Shear Madness runs at Catalina Theatre, Wilson’s Wharf from May 7 to 24. Tickets R80 (R50 pensioners and students for evening shows). Schools Performance R40 pp (one teacher free for every 10 scholars). There are Buy 1 get 1 free specials on Saturdays at 17h00 and Sundays at 14h00.

Booking office number 031 305 6889 between 09h00 and 16h00 from Monday to Friday and from 09h00 and 13h00 on Saturdays. The box office is closed on Sundays but tickets available online at www.ticket.co.za. For more info – call Thandeka on 031 305 6889/ 3057612 or e-mail tsibisi@mweb.co.za

The Catalina Theatre is still functioning thanks to the generosity and support from Rainbow Chicken, National Arts Council and Ethekwini Municipality.