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Sunday, September 15, 2013

CRAZY IN LOVE (TWHAF)



(Andrew Buckland & Liezl de Kock)

Presented at the 2013 Witness Hilton Arts Festival.

Actors lift what might otherwise have been a rather inconsequential piece of theatre into fine entertainment. (Review by Margaret von Klemperer)

South Africa’s master of physical theatre, Andrew Buckland devised this two-hander along with Liezl de Kock who joins him on stage, under the direction of Rob Murray. It premiered this year in Grahamstown and is off to the Amsterdam Fringe next year, so it arrived at Hilton with a weight of expectation.

The story concerns Leon, left at the altar 15 or so years before by Ruth. She also left newborn Ginny (short for Progeny) and shattered Leon’s life. From then on, Leon and Ginny are on an extended road trip, looking for Ruth. The name of each dorp they visit is tattooed on Leon’s skin, as disappointment, drink and the needs of an adolescent child are carved into his psyche.

There are moments of hilarity, including one which probably shouldn’t be spelled out publically, and also a poignant sense of impending disaster and meltdown which increases as the piece progresses. But it takes an actor of the calibre of Buckland to bring it all together. Watching on Friday with a school audience, I was fascinated that the scene I am not mentioning was greeted with an adult rather than an adolescent response. That is down to the power of the onstage performance.

And it is that power, from both the actors, that manages to lift what might otherwise have been a rather inconsequential piece of theatre into fine entertainment. - Margaret von Klemperer