(Pic by Mike Sole: Albert Pretorius & Gideon Lombard in "... miskien)National Arts Festival, Grahamstown: Tuesday, July 5, 2011
After the hectic storm the night before, I was almost afraid to put my head out of the bedclothes this morning. It was freezing. The venerable farmhouse survived the storm, bar a couple of roof leaks but its stone walls were icy. If you want to experience cold, put hard contact lenses in after cleaning them with water that’s virtually freezing!
The water run-off had created a deep drift across the farm road which takes me back into town so my sturdy Polo was required to do some aquaplaning! The town had been hit by a power failure that morning, bombing out many productions and causing ticketing chaos.
With Stable Theatre’s Centre Manager, Thanduxolo Zulu, I was booked to do a presentation on the Hands On! Masks Off! Programme. Perhaps it was the bitter cold which kept people in their lodgings but we only had three people. Still, we went ahead but then ten minutes into the powerpoint presentation, the electricity went out again. Obviously we weren’t meant to deliver the presentation that day!
There’s a well-worn saying in theatre that it’s never wise to cancel a performance if you have a small audience, even if it’s three people (as we had) – because you never know who those three people may be. This was certainly true for us because one of the audience members was from an arts centre in the UK and there is no doubt that we will remain in contact in the future to mutual benefit.
Then it was off to see … miskien - a little nervously, as my Afrikaans is virtually non-existent, but I had been encouraged to see it as it is mainly in English. I’m extremely glad I took the advice. It’s a very gripping piece of theatre sensitively directed by Tara Louise Notcutt who co-wrote it with the two performers, Albert Pretorius and Gideon Lombard
What do you do when your relationship with a close buddy starts veering off in a completely unexpected direction? What do you say? How do you deal with it? And, a more daunting element, how is the other person going to react? Will you lose everything you have together by voicing your thoughts and feelings? Or – perhaps by some miracle – might your feelings be reciprocated? It’s a very great risk to take.
Last year’s winner of a Silver Standard Bank Ovation Award for Theatre … miskien deals with two best friends in dead-end jobs. The highlight of their days is Happy Hour at the pub where they can laugh, josh each other, talk about computer games, and complain about all and sundry while sorting out the problems of the world.
The opening is memorable. The stage is strewn with crumpled up paper. Andrew Pretorius (Cormack) is on the table and Gideon Lombard (Leighton) is lying on the floor. The play starts slowly without any perceived direction – much like their lives. Cormack goes home to an empty house. His wife never seems to be there and he has no idea where she goes to. Leighton also leads a solitary life, spending the evenings watching TV and getting irritated with food cooked in the microwave.
Time ticks on. There are some beautifully-held moody moments such as when Cormack is disconsolately playing with a party blower. It’s his anniversary, after all – but where’s his other half?
Time ticks on. We now see Leighton battling to express himself – he writes his questions and suggestions down but has difficulty in actually putting them into speech. At one stage, he eventually chews the paper while roaring in desperation. His comfortable relationship with Cormack is changing its nature and he is at a loss as to how to proceed.
Meanwhile the beer swilling Cormack drowns his sorrows and there is a very funny scene in which they are both paralytically drunk and reduced to giggles. Eventually, Leighton’s moment of reckoning arrives but Cormack responds with all the physical strength in his power. Despair, anger and frustration mixed with passion … and fear.
This is a work that could so easily lose its strength in the wrong hands but this strong creative team have driven it to a production of pure excellence. – Caroline Smart
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