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Barbara Loots
It was with great excitement that I headed to the Baxter Theatre on Saturday, 6 September for the opening of the Tara Notcutt directed …miskien.
I was probably one of only two people in the audience who had not seen this production since it started wowing audiences 5 years ago. So to say that I was just a little excited may be a slight understatement … and my excitement was justified.
…miskien is one of those plays that at first appear deceptively simplistic. I mean, how much depth can a play about two rugby-loving beer-buddies really have? Well, you answer that question for yourself when midway through the play you find that you are leaning forward on your knees, both hands under your chin, lapping up every word, every facial expression, and every pregnant silence like a kid who is hearing the story about Father Christmas for the first time.
There is no doubt that once Albert Pretorius and Gideon Lombard takes the stage they will grab your attention without any hint of an arrogant look-at-me aura. That is their allure, they are just so comfortable on stage and in their rhythm with each other, that it is rather a case of them hypnotizing you. Albert immediately becomes that friend or relative that we all have, while Gideon grabs your heart with every “what-if” note that he unwraps.
At the end you realise that you are actually sitting there holding your breath as the possibility and the hope of what could be a missed opportunity is emphasised with every look, every laugh and then THAT pause… and you ask yourself can two friends know each other so well and yet deny themselves to such a degree that they are actually condemned to be strangers.
This Pink Couch production is everything that this theatre troupe proclaims their vision to be: creative, bold and fiercely independent. Subtly pushing the envelope as they seductively lure you in with the killer combination of vision and talent.
Allow your heart to skip a beat and go suspend your breathing in a theatre experience of pure what-if tension at the Baxter Theatre with …miskien showing until 27 September 2014. Tickets available at Computicket.