(Kasia Vosloo & Karen
Logan. Pic by Paulo Menezes)
(Review
from the artSMart team covering the 2014 Witness Hilton Arts Festival which ran
at Hilton College from September 19 to 21)
A pure delight that will particularly resonate with any
parent who’s been through the pre-primary school process! (Review by Caroline
Smart)
At long last I was able to catch up with Dear Breeder which I missed on its
various seasons, including the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown where it deservedly
won a 2014 Standard Bank Ovation Award.
Directed by Iain “Ewok” Robinson, it features Karen Logan in
a number of roles and Kasia Vosloo who provides musical accompaniment on the
guitar.
The set is a glorious chaotic muddle of toys, many of which
are percussive or jingle or toot. As the audience enters, the actresses are
moving around selecting noise-making items, almost like an orchestra tuning up –
although a lot less tuneful!
The situation is the 7th committee meeting of the Peter Rabbit Pre-Primary School where
mothers are invited to put forward ideas for the school’s nativity story. These
range from completely re-writing the story to outrageous suggestions of angels
with black capes or backcloths with dinosaurs and crocodiles.
Logan imbues each mother was a sense of individuality. Lex
is full of upward inflections, waving arms and Zen consciousness. Janet is a
chatterbox with a sexy brother called Jack and Gabrielle is the mother of
adventurous young Col.
Vosloo plays the
quirky, recently-pregnant drama teacher, Ms du Bois, and her interludes act as
a musical commentary. Particularly
hilarious was the opening number, Let’s
Make a Baby ... You’ll be the Mash, I’ll be the Gravy!
Created by Logan and Vosloo and inspired by the performers’ first-hand experience of being breeders
themselves, the script is hilarious and the capacity audience responded
with glee.
Dear Breeder is a
pure delight that will particularly resonate with any parent who’s been through
the pre-primary school process! The production is supported by the KZN Department
of Arts & Culture. – Caroline Smart
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