SCENE IT: Stirred, shaken or just unmoved?

Maria Kearns

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Wednesday, 13 May 2026, saw the opening of a new run of STIRRED NOT SHAKEN, a solo show starring Lynita Crofford and directed by Natasha Sutherland, at the Baxter’s Masambe Theatre.

Though billed as a dramedy, Susan Hayden’s play about a woman putting the pieces back together after a devastating betrayal takes a decidedly earnest look at the life of its protagonist.

Despite the fact that this isn’t the show’s first outing, the whole undertaking appeared to be on rather shaky ground, almost as if the audience were being allowed into the rehearsal room rather than attending a performance: Flubbed lines and a certain level of discomfort with the props made for uncomfortable viewing. The presence of a few opening-night technical gremlins also didn’t help, but these can hopefully be exorcised before the end of the run.

Harder to fix, however, is the script, which seemed in need of more than a few tweaks. Not every play has to be an action-packed laugh-a-minute rollercoaster, but some tension really is needed if you’re going to keep your audience from drifting off. As it is, STIRRED NOT SHAKEN’s only message seems to be that even when objectively bad things happen to upper-middle-class South African women, they’ll cry a bit, open an expensive bottle of wine, reminisce about the good times on holiday in Paris, and then… be fine.

STIRRED NOT SHAKEN is on at the Baxter’s Masambe Theatre until the 23^rd of May 2026. Tickets are available through Webtickets.