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Saturday, June 16, 2018

THE PREFEST FEST!


(Musa Shozi appears in “Abyss”)

The Hexagon Theatre in Pietermaritzburg will present The PreFest Fest! on June 24 and 25, offering a feast of theatre in various genres. Catch them before they leave for Grahamstown. 

The line-up includes:
June 24 at 18h00 for 18h30: While My Guitar
June 25 at 17h30: The Blue Period of Milton van der Spuy
June 25 at 19h00: Clothes Maketh (Wo)man
June 25 at 19h45: Looking Into the Abyss


While My Guitar...
June 24 at 18h00 for 18h30 in the Hexagon Dive.
Devised and directed by Peter Mitchell.
"I look at the world and I notice it's turning"
Musicians Erin Fourie and Daniel Rossouw are back to explore the many worlds of The Beatles in this show, performing a range of Beatles' songs from the famous to the lesser known. Accompanied by guitars, the duo's fresh interpretation of the classic songs is placed within the context of the original era, with interesting snippets of information. This nostalgic yet contemporary view of the world, through the eyes of the songs, leaves a lasting impression of memorable tunes and beautiful vocals.

Fourie, a previous Idols finalist, was last seen in All That Jazz, and the Playhouse production of The Sound of Music as Sister Bertha, and Daniel Rossouw is a member of popular group Pan Latino, and both are well known on the KZN music scene.  

Tickets R100. Picnic Evening – bring your food, but no drinks as there is a cash bar. Tables seat 10, but bookings can be for less. Bookings: email hexagon@ukzn.ac.za


The Blue Period of Milton Van Der Spuy
June 25 at 17h30 in the Hexagon Studio Theatre
Written by Greig Coetzee and directed by Peter Mitchell
Milton van Der Spuy has a few problems - and they’re making him blue. He really wants to complete his next poem, but he’s hit a block with finding a rhyme for orange. He’s desperate to finish his current painting, except he can’t find a way to begin. And then there’s the constant danger that his head might explode …

Named after the poet, Milton is an artist whose talents lie, um … elsewhere. Playwright Greig Coetzee’s most simple, and yet most complex character is brought to life by award-winning actor, Francis Mennigke, in this new production directed by Peter Mitchell. It is, at once, a whimsical celebration and a playful mockery of Art in all its forms.

Milton’s not so intellectual brain has been filled with fantasies of being a great artist by his mother, a pathetic woman who tries to live vicariously through her son’s meagre talents. Coetzee’s extraordinary talent for comedy and pathos brings us a character who is at once appealing and laughable, but draws us closer and closer to tragedy as we start to distinguish between his artistic fantasies and the ugly reality.

Milton is naïve, simple and totally compelling as he makes us face pretentious notions of Art and consider the nature of beauty and tragedy within the comedic framework of a middle class white South African man with no prospects. Despite his unique, ‘differently abled’ mind, everyone can relate to this small man with huge dreams as he struggles to fly above his own mediocre life. You will laugh, you will cry, you will never see the Mona Lisa the same way again…

Tickets R70. Bookings: email hexagon@ukzn.ac.za


Clothes Maketh (Wo)man
June 25 at 19h00 in the Hexagon Theatre
Dance programme from ReRouted Dance Theatre featuring Tegan Peacock, Ashleigh Joubert and JC Zondi. Co-production with the Floating Outfit Project.

In contemporary society the ‘rules’ around clothes are often not about fashion, taste or even necessity. They demarcate difference, enforcing and reiterating societal ideas about what it is to be a man or a woman.

The implications of our clothing choices can be a liberating outlet for personal expression and self-confidence but can also be a prison, constricting our physical bodies and ultimately our true selves into certain parameters of acceptability with very few finding the courage to challenge this.

Is fashion truly a means of self-expression or is it just a shield?
Tickets R50. Bookings: email hexagon@ukzn.ac.za


Looking Into The Abyss
June 25 at 19h45 in the Hexagon Studio Theatre
Directed by Menzi Mkhwane and performed by Musa Shozi
Looking Into The Abyss is a riveting piece of theatre set in Umlazi Township – it was created by Menzi Mkhwane and Sabelo Ndlovu eight years ago, and won an Audience Favourite Award at the Musho! Festival. This year it comes back in a dynamic revival with Musa Shozi performing. The show explores many issues, but it is the theatrical cohesion of the body, the actor, and the story which heightens the experience for the audience. It comes to the Hexagon Theatre for the first time as it explores growing up as a young boy in the townships.
Tickets R50. Bookings: email hexagon@ukzn.ac.za