Vermaak | Entertainment > Teater | Theatre > Kennisgewings | Notices > Coming up for Air launches second and final 2008 season of Play>Ground at the Baxter Coming up for Air launches second and final 2008 season of Play>Ground at the Baxter

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2008-09-09

The Baxter Theatre Centre's second and final Play>Ground Performed Reading series for 2008 kicks off this Sunday, September 14, at 5pm, in the Baxter Sanlam Studio, with celebrated British writer Don Kinch's new play, Coming up for Air, directed by Paul Savage.

Savage is no stranger to Play>Ground. He directed Four Women - End of the Floetics for the Director's Choice season of the series in 2006 and last year he directed Lewis Nkosi's gripping play The Black Psychiatrist in the South African season.

Set up in a prison, Coming up for air is a riveting, topical and insightful play which examines the high rate of mental health diagnosis amongst black men. Is there a conspiracy theory? Survival of the fittest is the only way out in the law of the jungle. The Guardian described it as "an explosive example of theatre's social role."

Tshamano Sebe (Jesus Hopped the "A" Train, Stokvel) plays Denzil, who undergoes psychiatric analysis to determine whether he is fit enough to stand trial for a triple murder. He is accused of going into his local council meeting and shooting the members of the council. He has pleaded guilty and what follows is an exploration of identity and belonging.

The rest of the cast is made up of Roxanne Gabriels (Transitory, Destiny of Stone) who plays Jules, an Oxbridge-educated black psychiatrist who must assess Denzil's mental and moral health, André Weideman (Cissie, Antigone) and Royston Stoffels (Hamlet, Echoes).

"Although this play was written and is originally set in England, we can all identify with it and it could just as easily be set in South Africa," says Savage, who has worked with Kinch on several projects since the two first met in Birmingham, England, four years ago.  

"In June this year, while I was in England, Don finished the script and handed it to me. I immediately became excited, realising that the power of this play was as necessary within our South African context today, and this led me to set it locally." 

Barbados-born writer Kinch is Artistic Director of Nu Century Arts, which he set up in March 2001 to encourage young people from black communities in Birmingham to get involved in theatre, music and literature. He is a respected playwright and director as well as the editor of Wired Up magazine. His plays have been performed throughout Britain, the Caribbean and the USA. Three of his 14 stage plays, In Transit, Changing the Silence and The Balm Yard, have been broadcast on BBC2 and Channel 4.  

He studied at the University of London, Goldsmith's College, where he gained a BA (Drama and Sociology) and an MA (Anthropology). He teaches English and Performing Arts at City College Birmingham and is also a visiting lecturer for the University of Birmingham in African Caribbean Studies and is undertaking PhD research into Afro-Caribbean theatre forms. 

Last year Savage directed the classic Woza Albert - a collaboration between Nu Century Arts, the State Theatre in Pretoria and the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham - which travelled throughout the UK. Earlier in 2007 he performed in Chris van Wyk's Shirley, Goodness and Mercy, directed by Janice Honeyman, which was also first presented at Play>Ground, before being staged as a full-scale production at the Baxter and later at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, where it won two Naledi Awards.  

Play>Ground is a series of rehearsed play readings which provides a space for actors, directors and audiences to experience the very best of contemporary local and international scripts. Discussions about all the works after the performances are welcomed, stimulating cultural debate and encouraging audiences to develop their critical theatre awareness.  

With one performance only, seating is limited. Tickets are R30 and booking is through Computicket on 083 915 8000, online at www.computicket.co.za or any Shoprite / Checkers outlet. 

For further information and media enquiries please contact Fahiem Stellenboom, Marketing Manager, Baxter Theatre Centre, on telephone 021 680 3971, cell 072 2656 023 or email fahiem.stellenboom@uct.ac.za .