Dark, grim, spine
chilling horror story kept the audience transfixed. (Review by Keith Millar)
The Others is a dark, grim, spine chilling horror story which kept the audience
transfixed at the Musho! Festival on Saturday night.
Written and
directed by theatre all-rounder Peter Court and performed by a very impressive
Caitlin Kilburn it tells the story of Sarie, the daughter of a Platteland dirt
farmer. On the death of her mother Sarie, a simple and dutiful young lady, has
to do everything for her family. She cooks, cleans, cares for her younger
siblings, feeds the animals, and tills the land.
Worst of all, she
becomes the custodian of a huge bunch of keys, with the strict instruction that
she must lock up the house at night against the dark. Being a responsible and obedient
daughter she does this and persists, even in the face of ghostly voices which
call out to her at night and try to lure her into opening the doors.
The question is -
will she be able to hold out forever, and what will happen if she does opens
the doors?
The Others is a very well-crafted piece of theatre. It is played out on a
cheerless, bare stage, with bleak and shadowy lighting. The atmosphere is
created of the desolate and lonely farmhouse where the action takes place.
The pre-recorded
ghostly voices and choice of music which play a pivotal crucial role in the
production are extremely well done and enormously chilling.
The production uses
a minimum of speech, partly narration and partly dialogue, and plenty of mimed
action. Caitlin Kilburn is quite superb in her portrayal of this. This
versatile young actress breathes life into the character of the basic country
girl Sarie. The Catalina Theatre is hardly a quiet venue with artists having to
battle against the noise of extractor fans from the nearby restaurants.
However, extraneous noises aside, you could have heard a pin drop during
Kilburn’s intense and disturbing performance.
The Others was a rather unsettling production which
certainly had me glancing behind me as I left the area after the production. It
was a pleasure, however, to witness two Durban artists, both actor and
director, at the top of their game.
The 11th
Musho! Festival was presented by PANSA with support from The KZN Performing
Arts Trust, Pro-Helvetia and The Swiss Development Council, The KZN Department
of Arts and Culture, The Daily News, Catalina Theatre and Twist Theatre
Development Projects. For more information call the PANSA office on 031 201
4750 or email: kzn@pansa.org.za - Keith
Millar
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