(Jaques de Silva & Ameera Patel. Pic by Val Adamson)
A brilliant piece of physical theatre –
clever, witty and beautifully performed. (Review by Caroline Smart)
Running as part of the Playhouse
Company’s current New Stages Festival, Whistle
Stop is running over this weekend in the Playhouse Loft.
There are three characters in this story
– a man, a woman and a park bench. The bench becomes a character in its own
right through the skilful way in which it is handled, creating different
scenarios.
This is a brilliant piece of physical
theatre – clever, witty and beautifully performed by real-life couple, Ameera Patel
and Jaques de Silva, under the excellent and sensitive direction of Frances
Slabolepszy.
Conceived as a tribute to the work of
the legendary British playwright and actor Steven Berkoff, the production won a Standard Bank Silver Ovation
Award at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 2014. Patel, who wrote
the script, received a special writers’ award and deservedly so.
The stage is utterly bare apart from the
lone white bench in the spotlight. A young woman (Patel) strolls in, sits down and
starts reading the Garden and Home
magazine and whistling while she reads. A young man (de Silva) wanders in and moves
around. Both of them are acutely aware of the other, and take the time to size
each other up.
What follows is a highly amusing process
as we hear their speech to each other but also what they are thinking. He hates
whistling – finds it ”incomprehensible”. She calls him beady-eyed and like a
pecking chicken. She is more than derogatory about him while he finds her
acutely attractive … apart from the whistling, that is!
But slowly, their thoughts turn to a
determination to make contact – words tumble over each other, as do their
movements – and here is where the bench is a pivotal part of the show. They are
over it, under it, standing it upright, leaning, sliding, perching, slithering or
stretching on or around it – beautiful seamless movements that reflected their
thoughts and words.
There are ridiculous comments in their
journey of discovering each other. They say things they shouldn’t, then
frantically retract. They descend into arguments but a chance touch sends them
both into transports of delight. He remains stoic in his pursuit of her and his
description of the ladder in her stocking is hugely funny. She is fascinated by
his Adams Apple. Another utterly hilarious scene involves her discarding her bubble
gum which he wants to preserve for his planned posterity with her.
There are only three more performances
of Whistle Stop in the Loft – today (May
26) at 15h00 and 19h30 and tomorrow (May 27) at 15h00. Tickets R100 – R150 booked
through Computicket on 0861 915 8000, online at www.computicket.com, or call
031 369 9540.
This is physical theatre at its best. Catch
it if you can – Caroline Smart
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