The Crucible #OutAndAbout

What an incredible thrill to have watched such a star-studded incredibly talented cast performing the set-work production of The Crucible at UJ Arts Centre last night. Man, I just love the theatre, there is something so magical about a live performance created only for the pleasure and provocation of one group of people lucky enough to witness that one fleeting performance that will never quite be the same the next night or the next.

I have to say I was really excited to see this play (in spite of its heavy content), firstly to watch and support friends performing the work but also because I haven't seen a straight play in ages and was hungry for a classical piece of dramatic work.


This poignant Arthur Miller piece written in 1953 was presented in a way that drew me in and had me emotionally involved from start to finish. Particularly when I take into account that the play set during the Salem Witch trials of 1692, is based on actual events where the vindictiveness of human nature fueled enraged religious witch hunts.

The sheer brilliance of the direction, performances and creative elements is testament to true theatrical talents in our country and for me as an actress, it had me metaphorically salivating to not only personally be doing work like this but also to watch more productions of its nature and quality. 

Gimme more layered dual characterizations, more pure unadulterated theatre and more timeless classic plays!

The direction by Alby Michaels blew me away with a wonderful blend of professional talents and up-and-coming UJ students. It was such a pleasure to watch friends Neels Clasen, Cindy Swanepoel and Jacques Bessenger performing this kind of material and I thoroughly enjoyed each of their performances. Jacques Bessenger astounded me in his dual roles of Reverend John Hale and Reverend Parris; his transitions felt seamless and his fleshed out characters captivating. Neelsie, Neelsie... what can I say.. a man of many talents, Neels Clasen as John Proctor.. it's hard not to shed a tear when this mighty man breaks down and weeps on his knees in a bed of autumn leaves - powerful. I know Cindy Swanepoel mostly from her comedy work and it was delightful to see her tackle both demanding roles of Abigail and Elizabeth Proctor with such fervor. It was my first time seeing Lebohang Motaung (Mr Thomas Putnam, Giles Corey and Givenor Danforth) as well as Chan Marti (Mrs Putnam and Rebecca Nurse) perform and they were both excellent in their dual portrayals. I thought the students held their own with a particular stand out performance by Thobile Makukule as Tituba. 

Wow, the set by Wilhelm Disbergen - so beautifully simplistic and clever, magical lighting by Oliver Hauser (watched him since school and just love the work he's doing). The incredible masks were designed by friends Toni Morkel and Rob Pombo - eek please can I have one? and brilliant costume design by Jo Glanville - go Jo!

It's fun to see so many friends' creative work showcased and I feel a sense of 'big sister' pride in their successes. AND it's always a pleasure to have our mentorship graduate FADlings along who continue to grow together with us - Roelien, Morne (aka James!) and Michaela - Love you guys!

This piece is quoted in the program: 

"[W]e conceive the Devil as a necessary part of a respectable view of cosmology. Ours is a divided empire in which certain ideas and emotions and actions are of God, and their opposites are of Lucifer. it is as impossible for most men to conceive of a morality without sin as of an earth without a 'sky'. Since 1692 a great but superficial change has wiped out God's beard and the Devil's horns, but the world is still gripped between two diametrically opposed absolutes. The concept of unity, in which positive and negative are attributes of the same force, in which good and evil are relative, ever-changing, and always joined to the same phenomenon - such a concept is still reserved to the physical sciences and to the few who have grasped the history of ideas." Arthur Miller THE CRUCIBLE

I believe there may be only one performance left on this Saturday 15.00 at UJ Arts Centre so get onto Computicket or contact the UJ Arts Centre offices during working hours. For more information call 011 559 3058011 559 3058 or e-mail preciousm@uj.ac.za. Tickets are R80, R70 for pensioners and R50 for students - nothing! Go see it! (But take tissues and wear waterproof mascara)

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Chat soon guys!

Looking Back #FlashbackFriday

It's been a while since my last post, and so I thought I'd catch you up on some of my recent activities.

Our months of April and May have been filled with lots of great projects. One of which was our FADCreationS annual Broadway Performance Showcase Experience. This year the production was entitled 'Follicle The Musical', in partnership with the wonderful team of stylists from the salon Follicle Hair Atelier. The hair and make-up styling was out there, outrageous and out of this world, wow!
After a two week workshop auditioning, dancing, singing and acting at Dance de Art studios, we moved onto stage at Monte De Dios with excellent staging and technical equipment provided by EPH Productions and JSF Productions. The production was such a great success and the talent astounding. Each year our candidates manage to creep into our hearts and it's a great reward to hear all of their feedback about how much they've learned, grown and enjoyed the 14 intensive days with us.

This is the awesome logo and poster below that was designed for the show this year by the talented Anzel Liebenberg from Fire Cherry Creative Branding.  

Ferdi and I with designer Anzel Liebenberg

Hubby Ferdinand acted as a writing assist on the screenplay for the 8 Days Film which highlights the growing and pressing issue of human trafficking. The film had already premiered in several major cities in the States when director/producer Jaco Booyens began planning the South African premiers. It was a star-studded premier in Johannesburg on the 14th of March, and a wonderful privilege to attend. The 8 Days message is truly important for the trafficking awareness campaign, if you want to follow this movement or donate to the cause, visit their site at this link.


It was also particularly special to attend this year's Naledi Theatre Awards with Ferdi who was nominated as choreographer for his work on the production of Reik Na Die Sterre die Musical, which he produced together with Johan Ferrreira and Henre Bornman as TheSmashHitCo. The musical was nominated for 7 Naledi categories, and was a grateful affirmation and reward for the vision and hard work that went into the production.

My beautiful friend Clarice Pieterse recently launched an online musical 'movement' named #DinsdagDeuntjie. Every Tuesday, performers record videos of themselves playing their instruments and singing cover or original songs and post them online with the hashtag #DinsdagDeuntjie.

A brand new development has evolved from the growing popularity of this movement! We recently attended the second monthly 'live' #DinsdagDeuntjie event at the ProSound venue at the Hillfox Centre in Roodepoort. It is a wonderful platform for up and coming vocalists and musical artists to showcase their brands and perform live.

The next live event is happening on Friday 5 June 2015, TydOmTeSkyn#3 - you should all come and check out the great talent! For more info go and like their Facebook Page. 


Another highlight of the past few weeks was the official premier of the French Toast feature film.

I was so thrilled to play a cameo in this film and thoroughly enjoyed playing the french nurse Marion, as well as working on speaking the french language which I've been in love with since high school.
The premier was held with a lot of 'french flair' (and lots of really yummy) french toast at the knew open air cinema at the French Toast Coffee Cafe in Hartebeespoort. The smaller replica of the Eiffel Tower was all lit up on the other side of the romantic lock bridge, and had everyone experiencing a little bit of Paris in Gauteng.
It was such a lovely evening!

Wow it's been an eventful few weeks, it's been fun looking back.

I am looking forward to all that is still lying ahead and all the exciting new possibilities!!
Will keep you posted :)

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Chat soon peeps,

Broadway Performance Showcase Experience 2015 #ComingAttractions

This year our annual BPSE workshop event is going to get 'beefed up' a bit, we're going bigger and even better!

To give you some background, the Broadway Performance Showcase Experience is a two week musical theatre workshop where students and young amateur performing artists become a cast and company in the space of only a few days. They audition, dance, sing, act and record vocals in studio, until finally they perform a full and original musical theatre production (built around existing songs from Broadway and West End) to audiences, as well as invited VIP's from the professional industry.

It is a wonderful experience for anyone over the age of 11 with a passion for the performing arts and especially for those wanting to learn more about musical theatre, to help decide whether it is a field they might consider making their career one day and experiencing what it takes to put up a full 'broadway' production in the space of just a few days!

Personally, my favourite part of the workshop every year is the popular VIP Q&A session, where our candidates get to meet, listen to and ask questions of some of the top and highly acclaimed professionals in their various fields: actors, singers, performing artists, agents, lecturers, directors and producers, all sharing their insights and know-how in an intimate 3 hour Q&A session. It is always so insightful and invaluable!

This year we are so excited for our final showcase production to be hosted by a brand new venue Monte De Dios, and we can not wait to work at this gorgeous venue in Silver Lakes, Pretoria. We are once again rehearsing at the fabulous Dance De Art Studios in Hatfield and we are so grateful to be using their excellent space again this year.
Another exciting development, is the involvement of Follicle Hair Atelier bringing professional hair and make-up stylists onto the team, they will be styling our entire cast for the production with its outrageous 'hair-inspired' theme this year... FOLLICLE The Musical!!

Check out our cool poster below! 
(Love this design by Anzel Liebenberg from Fire Cherry Designs - thank you!)

There are literally only three spaces left if you or someone you know still wants to get involved and register to join this year's workshop! Just contact us at info@fadcreations.co.za or complete the registration form at this link and mail it to the same address.


Here are some images from previous years!
(Photo Credits Eben Liebenberg from PhotoElements)

 

The cast of 2013:

The cast of 2014:

You are going to want to come and see what we get up to this year!!! We have received great support from media platforms already and we are expecting a lot of hype around the event!

Follow the event on Twitter at @BwayExpSA!!


Get your tickets now from www.itickets.co.za because they are going to go fast! Click here.

***Performances on Friday 10 April at 19.00 and Saturday 11 April at 15.00 and 19.30!!!

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Speak soon peeps!

Fiona 'Speakeasy' Ramsay #FanClub

I think it is safe to say that Fiona Ramsay is one of the actresses on my top list of acting icons, equal to the likes of Meryl and Judi.

Fiona's experience, credits and list of achievements is awe-inspiring and surely speaks for itself.
Only a few of her credits include...

On Screen: Homeland, Dominion, Black Sails, The Bang Bang Club, In My Country.

On Stage: Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Streets of Gold, Delirium, Sailing Somewhere, The Old and The Beautiful.

As a language, accent and dialogue coach, (her company is called Speakeasy Vocal Training) Fiona has been commissioned on several local and international film and stage productions. Notably she acted as dialogue or language coach for Stander, Hotel Rwanda, Winnie Mandela, Material and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom coaching actor Idris Elba who portrayed Madiba in the feature. In 2014 she worked as dialogue and dialect coach on The Salvation and also did work on the Charlize Theron and Sean Penn feature The Last Face that filmed in Cape Town.
Check her out on IMDb.

In December last year a few of my FADCreationS Mentorship students and I watched Fiona Ramsay in the two-hander 'The Old and The Beautiful' at the POPArt Theatre in Maboneng.


It was so great to see Fi in an intimate theatrical piece like this alongside Tony Bentel, showcasing her phenomenal skill, incredible diversity and emotional depth engaging the audience from beginning to end. The outing with my students reminded me to remain in touch with my own student spirit and Fiona reminded me to stay inspired, to use what personally moves me in my work and projects and to keep learning from the greats. 
 

How lucky am I to have had the privilege to work with her in my career (Thoroughly Modern Millie 2006) and I honestly hope that I get to do so again in the future!

I know that she is planning to bring the production Doubt to the stage soon, and will keep you posted when I find out about upcoming production venue and dates! Also, soon I will be launching the first episode of the FAD Roundtables - The Actresses online, where Fiona is one of 5 other actresses in a one hour interview chatting about our industry and their career experiences in it. I can't wait to share it with you all!!!

Stay inspired peeps!