(Jailoshini
Naidoo, Tim Wells, Iain Robinson and Lisa Bobbert)
Don’t miss Robert Fridjhon’s hilarious story
of four misfits on a bird-watching mission! (Review by Caroline Smart)
If Twitch
– which is multi award-winning actor, Robert Fridjhon’s first play - is a
sample of what we can expect from him in the future … then stand by, South
Africa, to welcome a new master of comedy!!
Twitch,
which is KickstArt’s first production of 2013, had its world premiere at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre this evening and
the capacity audience received it with gales of laughter throughout. There are
some glorious comedy lines and you don’t have to know a thing about birds or
bird-watching to appreciate it to the full.
Excellent performances come from Tim Wells
as Finlay (a short-tempered mining engineer), Lisa Bobbert as Maddie (his pragmatic
wife), Jailoshini Naidoo as Venice (an elegant marketing executive) and Iain
EWOK Robinson as her husband, Harper (a nerdy paleoanthropologist).
They are taking part in a bird-watching
competition, organised by the Sandpipers Club. The two men are on the committee
– and there is much to be said about that! There is a time frame to the contest
and as the play opens, the men are studiously scanning the surrounding bush,
calling out the birds they have jointly identified. Maddie frantically tries to
list them as they rush along while Venice is pre-occupied with her cellphone, desperately
trying to find a signal.
To explain the plot would give too much
away but the play moves at a good pace, offering all performers a chance to
show their undeniable skills of versatility. It travels over rocky patches as personal
secrets are revealed and rivalry rears its head. The differences between the
four characters start creating animosity and this results in a full-on brawl!
In the middle of all of this, Venice has a
true wildlife experience and in an eloquent speech, she recounts her experience
as she became converted to the magic of the bush.
Greg King’s inspired set of a bird-hide in
the Kruger National Park is placed centre stage, taking up about half of the full
stage area, giving the impression of the vast bush outside. Beautifully designed
by Tina le Roux, the lighting changes subtley to mark the passage of time
throughout the day as the blazing sun passes overhead. A shadow of a skeletal
tree on the cyc gives added atmosphere.
While the set offers three stepped platforms,
the actual working space for the actors is no more than about four and a half
square metres in total. It is thanks to director Steven Stead’s masterly
direction that the visual picture of the characters is constantly changing within
that small area, offering different moods and tensions.
A passionate conservationist, Fridjhon is
pledging a percentage of his royalty fee to the FreeMe Wildlife Rehabilitation
Centre.
Twitch runs at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre until February 24 from Tuesdays
to Saturdays at 19h30 (Sundays at 14h00 and 18h00). Tickets R130 (R100 pensioners/students).
There is a special Valentine’s Gala Performance on February 14 when tickets are
R200 each and patrons will receive complimentary sparkling wine and chocolate
on arrival.
Bookings through Computicket. For block
bookings of ten or more, and for early bird group bookings specials for
bookings, contact Ailsa Windsor of Going Places on 083 250 2690 or editor.goingplacessa@gmail.com
After its Durban run, Twitch goes on to perform at the Montecasino Theatre in
Johannesburg and at the Theatre on the Bay in Cape Town. Don’t miss it! –
Caroline Smart
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