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Abrahamse & Meyer Productions
Having played to standing ovations and critical acclaim in the USA in 2014 and 2019 Abrahamse & Meyer Productions are thrilled to announce that their celebrated production of Yukio Mishima’s modern Noh masterpiece THE LADY AOI is finally coming home to the Mother City when it opens in the Artscape Arena this November.
Described by the American press as “eerily sexy…brilliantly skilful” and “breath-taking,” this production is a dazzling fusion of visual and physical theatre, puppetry, mask work, original music, and sumptuous design.
Veteran director/designer, Fred Abrahamse directs this production that features the acting talents of Marcel Meyer and Matthew Baldwin, an original score by the incomparable Charl-Johan Lingenfelder and lighting by the multi-award-winning Faheem Bardien.
Yukio Mishima, one of the most celebrated authors of the 20th century, transmuted a familiar Japanese narrative into a startling, modern play about unrequited love, obsession, passion, and possession in which the living ghost of a mistress scorned, nightly torments the body of her former lover’s wife.
David Kaplan, Curator of the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival, USA, said of the production: “In this fresh staging, what Freud defined as the repressed subconscious, and Japanese legend depicted as the world of vampiric ghosts, the Abrahamse Meyer Company unveils as rapacious and unceasing love. The confluence of many streams − the plot of an 11th century Japanese novel, the classic 14th century adaptation into masked Japanese Noh drama, Yukio Mishima’s 20th century mask-less Noh play, the miracle of a lucid English translation, and the unique expertise of Abrahamse & Meyer melding West and East in the Japanese-inspired work of Tennessee Williams − all swirl together powerfully, buoyed by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder music, a score as complex and compelling as the wonder-filled production. Unforgettable: the staring eyes of the puppet heads.”
THE LADY AOI is the first production in an exciting summer season of World Theatre that Abrahamse & Meyer have lined up at the Artscape Theatre Centre.
Abrahamse & Meyer Productions present
THE LADY AOI by Yukio Mishima
Starring Marcel Meyer and Matthew Baldwin
Directed by Fred Abrahamse
Original Score by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder
Lighting Design by Faheem Bardien
Set, Costume, Puppetry Design & Construction by Fred Abrahamse & Marcel Meyer
Venue: Artscape Arena
Dates: 17 November till 4 December 2021
Performances times: Mon – Fridays at 19:00 and 15:00 and 18:00 on Saturdays
Running Time: 55 minutes [no interval]
Tickets: R250 per ticket
Booking: Computicket