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A Contemporary Italian Play, is no Secret Any More.
Fresh on the heels of the much-talked about Equus, Pieter Toerien once again presents Sven Ruygrok in the Enrico Luttmann play, Family Secrets, to be staged in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Ruygrok will be staring in this production, alongside Dorothy Ann Gould, who herself does not need any introduction.
It has been quite some time since there has been a production of a contemporary Italian play in South Africa. University drama courses still occasionally stage the odd Luigi Pirandello drama but apart from the Neapolitan family sagas by Eduardo di Fillipo, we’re a little out of touch with the vibrant theatre scene of Italy, particularly Rome.
Enrico Luttmann has become a mainstay of the Teatro Vittoria and Teatro de’Servi in Rome with his bittersweet comedies of present-day Italian life. In addition, his work has been presented all over Europe and enthusiastically received, and the first productions of his plays in English are scheduled for both the U.K. and the United States.
Pieter Toerien has scooped the English language premiere of Family Secrets for South Africa, starring Dorothy-Ann Gould and Sven Ruygrok, directed by Alan Swerdlow and designed by Kosie Smit for presentation at Montecasino in Johannesburg and the Theatre on the Bay in Cape Town.
Feisty, combative Grazia, lives in an Italian sea-side town, passing her days with her obsessive dedication to never-ending soap operas. Her son, Adamo, has moved to Rome where he writes soap operas for television and plays for the stage. His recollections of their spikey mother-son relationship plays out in his mind until he achieves an understanding of what “family” truly means as he dodges the skeletons in the cupboard.
Sometimes hilariously witty, sometimes deeply moving, Family Secrets is as tasty and comforting as a big bowl of pasta, as the protagonists learn to speak the universal language of Family.
Family Secret
Johannesbnureg
Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre
14 June to 30 June 2019
Cape town
Theatre on the Bay
3 July to 13 July 2019
Show Times:
Wednesdays – Fridays at 8pm,
Saturdays at 4pm and 8pm,
Sundays at 3pm
Family Secrets will have its opening performance during a special matinee performance in Johannesburg on the Youth Day Public Holiday, Monday 17 June 2019 at 3pm.
Tickets: R100, to R240
All bookings at Theatre Box Office & COMPUTICKET
