(Mark Kay &
Daisy Spencer)
Educational and entertaining piece should be compulsory viewing for all
school pupils trying to come to terms with poetry. (Review by Keith Millar)
The Witness Hilton Arts Festival celebrated its 21st birthday
this year and has without doubt come of age. However, it has lost none of its
youthful exuberance and vitality. Hilton College remains a joyful place to visit on festival week-end.
A production such as Greig Coetzee’s delightful Rhymes With Orange highlights this statement. This fresh and vibrant work is at once a gentle teenage love
story and a celebration of the beauty of poetry. Coetzee has taken some of the matric
prescribed works and some of his own favourites and created an upbeat,
hilarious and innovative play which makes poetry both accessible and fun.
Romy (Daisy Spencer) is hard at work studying for her matric poetry exam.
Her boyfriend Julius (Marc Kay) on the other hand is determined that they
should forget studying and team up to become the next youTube Rap sensation.
As young people they are battling to establish their own identities and
understand their relationship. They are also concerned about issues of the past
such as Hitler’s holocaust, apartheid and Nelson Mandela’s incarceration.
Romy is also scared to commit to anyone because of her parents’ divorce.
She wants to tell Julius that they can only be friends. He on the other hand is
in love and wants to find a way to win her affections.
In each instance, poetry is used to illustrate the issue they are
discussing. The inspirational words of Sylvia Plath, Shakespeare, Hillarie
Belloc, William Blair, Cecil Day Lewis, Mongane Serote and Percy Bysshe Shelly amongst
others are quoted during the story.
Daisy Spencer and Marc Kay are very talented actors and their
performance in this production is sparkling, charming and energetic. Their
delivery of the poetry is particularly noteworthy and is very well done. Direction
is by the renowned slam poet Iain “Ewok” Robinson.
Rhymes with Orange is both educational
and very entertaining. It should be compulsory viewing for all school pupils
who are trying to come to terms with poetry.
“If you feel that your life feels like it
doesn't rhyme anymore, maybe all that's missing from your soul is a bit of
poetry”
-Keith Millar
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