(Greig Coetzee &
Garth Anderson)
Award winning writer and
actor, Greig Coetzee (“White Men with Weapons”, “Happy Natives” and “Johnny
Boskak Is Feeling Funny”, among others) has penned this tribute to his friend, colleague
and mentor, the late Garth Anderson.:
“I first saw Garth perform in a corner of the Hermit
Restaurant in Durban back in the early 80’s. Our starters were served, the
lights dimmed, a pianist (Melvin Peters, I think) tickled the ivories on an
upright, and then a dashing, twenty-something Garth entered (from the kitchen),
in a black tux, as Noel Coward. And there it was … a show appearing like magic,
out of nothing.
Right there, in that small moment of alchemy, was one of the
best lessons I've ever had in making theatre: With a bit of gumption, you can
make it happen just about anywhere out of almost nothing.
I met Garth when, as a 16-year-old-who-knew-everything, I
tried to direct and produce a musical as a charity fundraiser at the St John’s
Theatre in Old Fort Road. Garth was going through one of his occasional phases
of trying to have a 'proper job' as a manager at Computicket (all the while, of
course, still moonlighting as a performer).
I arrived at his office to persuade this "Mr
Anderson" to donate Computicket’s services to the project. He did so
without hesitating, and probably without his bosses knowing. And when I failed
to secure the rights for the musical, instead of calling it a day, Garth
insisted we could create our own script. Over late night coffees in his Albert
Park flat, I watched as Garth edited and rewrote a few of the Just So Stories, cobbled together some
lyrics and, in a few days, came up with a shambolic script with musical bits
called Carry on Kipling.
Armed with this cut-and-paste masterpiece, I stumbled
through directing a rag-tag bunch of amateurs, including my sisters, some
neighbours and whoever else I could drag aboard. Despite Garth helping when he
could, the show was awful and it played to an average audience of about two.
However, I came out of it with Garth as my big brother and
we’ve been blood ever since. It was the first of many crazy, wonderful,
terrifying, funny, challenging, infuriating, joyful adventures I was to have
with the man. And, 13 years after that first terrible production, we opened White Men with Weapons at the Lincoln
Center Festival in New York.
But it’s not the work we did together that I value the most.
It’s the times he made me laugh:
Like Garth spoonerising the name of the coffee shop Petit
Suisse into a something a lot less appealing. Or a fat Garth dragging me into a
swimwear shop on the Durban beachfront, horrifying the shop assistants by
insisting he was there to purchase a bikini and almost convincing them to help
him try one on. Or Garth dressing his very patient cats as Romeo and Juliet and
then making them perform the balcony scene with him doing their voices. And, if
I ever need to smile, I simply have to think of Garth’s inimitable portrayal of
Thisbe, complete with extremely bad balloon breasts.
At various points over the years, Garth has been my mentor,
brother, director and favourite batty aunt. Bits of our crazy friendship will
always be with me. And that’s a good thing.” – Greig Coetzee
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