Picture: Gareth Pretorious and Nita Allsop clash clubs in an oddly Scottish version of Macbeth. (by ELRorke Photography)
Halfway through July this year, the community amateur dramatic society known as ‘The Sedge Players’ launched a comedy with a twist for the unsuspecting Garden Route audiences. But the six-strong cast and crew (three of each) had no idea how well received it would be, and that audiences would be drawn from Mossel Bay to Plett and everywhere in between.
The unmitigated (and unexpected) success of this comical attempt of ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)’ has led to an unprecedented run of sold-out shows, a two performance extension (also sold out) and invitations to perform their production in two much larger venues in much larger towns – George’s Arts Theatre and Knysna’s Oakhill School.
It’s on the back of this delightful turn of events that the cast and crew have decided to give back to the Sedgefield community by putting on a Charity ‘Blanket Show’ in conjunction with The Edge’s Blanket Drive. This will take place on 31 July at Studio 42. The simple concept is as follows: – book your seats via Whatsapp or SMS on 084 567 9809 and, instead of paying the R100 entry fee, bring a blanket – either new or second hand (clean and unstained please!), and this will go towards the drive to make Sedgefield winters warmer for the less fortunate. The blankets will be handed over to Masithandane for distribution in the Smutsville, Sizamile and Karatara communities.“Should you not have a blanket to bring,” says producer Melanie Baumeister, “The usual R100 entrance fee will apply – but this too will be used to buy blankets for the drive.”
There is a full review of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) on page 6 of the latest edition. But in short – if you love Shakespeare, you’ll love this show, if you HATE Shakespeare, you’ll love this show, and if you couldn’t give a hoot about Shakespeare, well, you’ll find this show an absolute hoot!
