Riding through the royal forest of Sherwood on a glorious May morning, you don’t have a care in the world.  Then you hear a bird call, the faint rustling of trees, and suddenly a man armed with a longbow appears in your path.  He wears a feathered cap, or is that a hood?  You can’t see the man’s face clearly, but you don’t have to.  He is dressed in Lincoln green, the colour of Robin Hood – the most famous English outlaw of all time.

And now comes Janice Honeyman’s brand new pantomime adventure, Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood, on the stage of The Mandela at Joburg Theatre from November 5th to December 30th 2016.

The plot combines the babes-lost-in-the-forest story with the Robin Hood legend.  The young children, Hansel and Gretel, come to visit their uncle, the Sheriff of Nottingham, little suspecting that he is plotting their demise.  But never fear, help is at hand – in the shape of Robin and his Merry Men, plus Maid Marian and the Spirit of the Forest!

Playing the role of Robin in his first Joburg Theatre pantomime is Izak Davel, best known to TV viewers as Isidingo‘s arrogant Bradley Haines, and whose hit recordings include Verlei My, Is Jy In Of Is Jy Uit and Vreesloos.

Much loved panto star Desmond Dube returns to Joburg Theatre to play the jovial Friar Tuck, Idols finalist Bongi Mthombeni features in his fifth Joburg Theatre pantomime as the dandy Will Scarlet and leading lady of South African musical theatre, Kate Normington, will surely be wildly comic as Silly Sylviana, the Spirit of the Forest!

Also featured in Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood are Graham Hopkins as the villainous Norman the Nasty, Sheriff of Nottingham, L J Urbani as the ever-popular panto Dame Emmarentia Ugly, Phumi Mncayi as chief lieutenant of the Merry Men, Little John, award-winning actress Candida Mosoma as Much the Miller’s Son (written with an inevitable panto twist!), beautiful Carmen Pretorius as Robin’s love interest, Maid Marian, and Jaco Van Rensburg as the wandering minstrel, Alan-a-Dale.

Joining them in the all-South-African cast are, in alphabetical order, TeeKay Baloyi, Darius Engelbrecht, Clive Gilson, Nuritt Graff, Kyra Green, Dirk Joubert, Dolly Louw, Yamikani Mahaka-Phiri, Tsepho Ncokoane, Noni Nkonto, Dale Scheepers, Natasha Van Der Merwe and Maryanne Van Eyssen.

“It’s an exciting year for us when Janice Honeyman writes a brand new pantomime script,” says Bernard Jay, Executive Producer of the panto. “We don’t know exactly what to expect until the last minute, but we do know it will be full of her magical flair for story-telling, spectacular special effects, zany comedy and outrageous double entendres!”

Writer / director Janice Honeyman collaborates with producer Bernard Jay on their sixteenth Joburg Theatre pantomime together.  Rowan Bakker joins the team this year as musical director; Nicol Sheraton returns as choreographer; the eagerly anticipated, over-the-top, fabulous sets and costumes are once again supplied by Qdos in the UK; the lighting design is by Graham McLusky; sound design by Trevor Peters; and Timothy Le Roux is the resident director.  As with many past successful pantomime productions at Joburg Theatre, Claire Pacariz and Simon James serve as associate producers.

Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood has preview performances on The Mandela stage at Joburg Theatre on November 5th and 6th with tickets from R170.  Its official Opening Night is scheduled for Sunday November 6th and the season continues until December 30th, with tickets priced from R220.

Over 30,000 tickets have already been sold for this year’s panto, so best to hurry and get yours now for South Africa’s most popular family entertainment tradition.  Tickets are available by visiting www.joburgtheatre.com or calling 0861 670 670, as well as through Webtickets and at Pick ‘n’ Pay stores. For group bookings of 10 or more, contact the theatre directly on 011 877 6853/6815.

For details of the full schedule and performance times, visit www.joburgtheatre.com

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by Louw Mulder

For Joburgers it may be a long drive to Pretoria, but Bernard Jay’s production of Saturday Night Fever will be worth the trip.

This uniquely staged production of the Paramount / RSO film featuring John Travolta, sets the scene for a disco-filled experience, featuring some of South Africa’s top theatre performers, and a creative team with numerous awards to complete the fever.

What impressed me the most about this production, was the set and lightning design, by multi-award winner Denis Hutchinson. No doubt that Hutchinson will be nominated for yet another few awards for the work he has done on Saturday Night Fever. He produced what I think is the most innovative and practical set I have seen, with the lighting design bringing the previous century’s disco era right in front of you. I am convinced that this set design will be setting the trend for future theatre designs.

Set in late July, 1977, Saturday Night Fever tells the story about Tony Manero, played by the very talented Daniel Buys. Buys came into the spotlight when he reached the finals of South African Idols, after which he proclaimed the sky as his limit. With a few theatre productions under his belt, like Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys and West Side Story, Buys held nothing back with this role – even showing-off his well-defined body, during a full costume change on stage.

Not shy of any credit, are the rest of the 30-member cast, under the dance captaincy of Vanessa Brierley. Saturday Night Fever features a diverse, and purely South African Cast, with names like Singin’ in the Rain’s Steven van Wyk, Aspoestertjie’s Clint Lesch, and Starlight Express’s Bongi Mthombeni, to name a few.  The gorgeous LJ Neilson, and perfectly cast Natasha van der Merwe, were amongst the fairer sex, fighting for Manero’s love.

Other names in this very diverse cast, include Matthwy Berry, Cameron Botha, Londiwe Dhlomo, Nurit Graff, Nathan Kruger, Phumi Mncayi, Toni Jean Erasmus, Charmaine Weir-Smith and Mark Richardson, to name only some.

But the performance of the night, must go to Craig Urbani for playing the duel role of Manero’s dad (Frank Manero), as well as Pete, the very camp and flamboyant gym instructor. Urbani’s experience was evident through his versatility on stage, and the demeanour he adapted complimented the role of the actors in the lead, as effectively as one can expect.   His role also contributed immensely to the humour element, which makes this role perfect for him.

Saturday Night Fever is known for its dancing, which makes the work of choreographer, Wesley Swain Lauder, a daunting task. Nevertheless, Lauder created steps and moves that got the whole audience on their feet, energetically executed by the cast he was given to work with. It was just sometimes a little difficult to focus on the main events on stage, with so many things happening at the same time. A busy stage tells a full story, but I think during one or two instances, it overshadowed the leads.

What made up for this minor piece of criticism, is the rest of the production. Award-winning MD, Rowan Bakker showed why he can be seen as one of SA’s leading Musical Directors.  Bakker, who recently lifted his baton in Sweeney Todd and Sister Act, took this score under his direction, creating the necessary sounds, energizing everything happening on stage, with his 10-piece band in the pit.  The sound design of Trevor Peters, Sarah Roberts designing the costumes, and Greg Homann as director, completed the creative team, adding fever to a Saturday night.

Overall, this production is a feel-good, sit back and enjoy musical, created to entertain. Saturday Night Fever is a Mirror-ball of South-Africa’s finest, reflecting all the good reasons why we can be proud of our own.

Saturday Night Fever will run at the South African State Theatre, till October the 9^th. Tickets are available at Computicket, but Stage and Screen is proud to give away 10 sets of tickets, for Saturday, 1 October. You can enter here.

Photos by Sanmari Marais

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