Press: Powerhouse creative trio ignites Cape Town Fringe

Cape Town is in for a treat when a powerhouse creative trio present the local premiere of two of their acclaimed shows.

Theatre legend Andrew Buckland and multiple-award winning visual theatre makers, Rob Murray and Liezl de Kock, bring Crazy in Love and Piet se Optelgoed to the inaugural Cape Town Fringe Festival from 25 to 30 September. Crazy in Love arrives in Cape Town hot off its highly successful run at the Amsterdam Fringe Festival, where it won the award for Best International Production. It was also hailed by the Fringe Review as one of the Festival’s must-sees and was given an “Outstanding Show” status.

Presented by A Conspiracy of Clowns, Standard Bank Ovation Award winner Crazy in Love is devised and performed by the inspirational pairing of Buckland and de Kock, and is directed by Murray, with design by Jayne Batzofin.

Piet se Optelgoed won a Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award at this year’s National Arts Festival and has been invited to the 2015 Amsterdam Fringe Festival. Presented by DonkerDonkie in association withA Conspiracy of Clowns and Rhodes Drama, it isdevised, designed and written by de Kock, and performed by her with Lexi Meier. Sound and directorial composition is by Rob Murray.

Crazy in Love is the tragicomic story of a father-daughter search for a missing bride and mother.Inspired by an episode in John Irving’s Until I Find You, and told using a captivating blend of physical and visual performance, Crazy in Love is a paean to love and its ensuing madness.

When the independent and free-spirited Leon (Buckland) is abandoned at the altar by his bride to be, he is left literally holding the baby. From his grief comes a solemn resolve: to travel the country with his infant daughter, Ginny (de Kock), until he finds his lost love and their trinity can be reunited.His quest quickly becomes an obsession, and at each town they don’t find her, he tattoos that town name on his skin.Fifteen years later, Ginny is coming of age and starting to realise the desire to achieve her own independence, while he has retreated into alcoholism and despair - his body a roadmap of tattoos. As their individual obsessions spiral out of control and they become lost in their own personal routines and mythologies, a massive shift in their relationship is imminent – if they have the courage and conviction to break out of their own cycles.

“I’ve always been fascinated by deceptively small human stories that tell a much larger archetypal tale,” says director Rob Murray. “In many ways Crazy in Love pays homage to these, as well as existing in its own right, in the telling of a very moving and hilarious tale.The scale of it makes it a form of road-movie theatre.”

Piet se Optelgoed is a dark and brooding nightmare peppered with unexpected humour, heart-breaking vulnerability and poignant humanity, told in the breathtaking visual style audiences have come to expect from Liezl de Kock. Gleefully deranged and a fringe dweller, Piet is at once a myth and a horror story told to children when they don’t behave. Like a twisted pied piper, her lullaby calls weggooi-kinders from their beds to her kitchen; her hunger is insatiable. Piet se Optelgoedtrawls the dark underbelly of society and the power and powerlessness of women in a warped comic broth of visual buffoonery.

“Creating Piet se Optelgoed as part of an MA at Rhodes has been an unparalleled privilege,” says de Kock. “Having access to mentors and theatre luminaries such as Prof. Juanita Finestone-Praeg, Prof. Andrew Buckland, Illka Louw, and Rob Murray has made the work and the research rich and unrelenting. I have grown enormously during the process of working with women including Hannah Lax, Lexi Meier, Ananda Paver and Megan Grace Wright.”

Crazy in Love is the fourth work created by the “open door collective” that is A Conspiracy of Clowns. Other works it has produced have been the smash hit Pictures of You(multi Fleur du Cap winner and top selling 2009 theatre production on the NAF Fringe), Kardiāvale (the cult cabaret clown noir show created under Jayne Batzofinand first presented on the NAF Arena Programme in 2011), and Benchmarks (first presented, in association with FTH:K, on the 2011 NAF Main Programme and then at Out the Box where it won a Handspring Puppet Company Award).

For a taster of Crazy in Love, visit http://cuetv.ru.ac.za/?s=crazy+in+love

Both productions carry an Age 16+ restriction.

Crazy in Love will be performed at City Hall 1 on 25 September at 21h30; 26 September at 16:30; 27 September at 20h30; 28 September at 10:30 and 16:30 and on 29 September at 18:30. Tickets costR80 and R65 (concessions).

Piet se Optelgoed will be performed at City Hall 2 on 25 September at 17h30; 26 September at 12:30; 27 September at 17:30; 28 September at 21:30 and 29 September at 21:30.Tickets cost R60 and R40 (concessions).

Bookings for both productions can be made at www.capetownfringe.co.za

Review comments for Crazy In Love

“one of the must-see shows at the Amsterdam Fringe.” Fringe Review

"unique and complex……excruciatingly funny, hurtful, uncomfortable, yetalways intrinsically pleasing" Artsblog

"simply majestic…a special little play" Business Day

"Andrew Buckland and Liezl De Kock induce both joy and heartache in their Standard Bank Ovation award-winning production…a heart-wrenching tale…Beautiful, moving and expertly presented" Cue

“moments of hilarity…and also a poignant sense of impending disaster and meltdown which increases as the piece progresses…fine entertainment” Artsmart

“visueel baie bevredigend, met as wat lyk soos ʼn hoop rommel op ʼn trollie wat deur die

loop van die produksie lewe kry en op kreatiewe wyses gebruik word. As ʼn geheel is Crazy in Love ʼn pragtige verhaal van menslike broosheid, geskep deur drie top Suid-Afrikaanse teatermakers” Litnet

“Buckland is masterful ..... de Kock, who has an uncanny ability to embody an endearing yet tragic beauty on stage, has developed her art to the point where in this play her skill is perfectly matched with Buckland’s” Artsblog

“funny and moving” Mahala

“ Powerful....superb” Oppidan Press

Review Comments for Piet se Optelgoed

“It’s a nightmare shot through with exquisite rays of humour” Artsblog

“A very dark humorous look into society... enjoyable and entertaining” Cue

“It’s eerie. It’s macabre. It’s unsettling and will take you deep down to some dark places. Don’t despair though, as de Kock delivers this haunting feast with a generous helping of black humour.” Artsblog

Press release provided by Christine Skinner.