PRESS: ‘all my ex-lovers are dead’, a new play by a new voice

Dara Beth

---

all my ex-lovers are dead debuts at Toneelhuis on Tuesday the 14th of February (making it the perfect Valentine’s Day Date Night) with a short run ending on Saturday the 18th of February. Written and directed by Dara Beth and performed by Maggie Gericke, all my ex-lovers are dead is an all-too-honest story of all the loves we’ve had, all the loves we could have had, and all the loves we should not have hoped to have had told over the course of an evening and many, many cups of tea.

all my ex-lovers are dead is a one-hander that explores love, desire, poor life choices, and how many cups of tea it takes to wake up and smell the coffee. The production melds storytelling with soundscapes and multimedia projections of moments and memories as our protagonist, They, unravels the history of their love life. Sometimes consumed with the picture they compose for themselves, sometimes searching for a memory in a cup of tea, They tell us tales of vulnerability, longing, and what we do with the love we have left over when the lovers are gone. all my ex-lovers are dead toys with the bittersweet taste of memory, teases out the tangible ways we hold onto the feeling of others, and tinkers with the sensations that bring their breath rushing back to our necks.

A selected text for Artscape’s New Voices Programme in 2021 and STAND Foundation’s Pen To Paper Programme in association with NATi and Vrystaat Kunstefees in 2022, all my ex-lovers are dead has now been invited for a fully funded run at Woordfees. This story has been a long time coming–written slowly, over the course of six years, pieced together from scrap paper prose scribbled at the edges of receipts, woven together with unfinished voice memos saved on and downloaded from multiple phones, and laced with more internal monologues than any single person should allow themselves to indulge in.

Tickets for all my ex-lovers are dead can be booked via Quicket or paid for at the door with cash or SnapScan. Tickets are R180 per person or R130 with a valid student card.