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THEATRE
Waiting For Godot
Venue: The Fugard Theatre, Caledon St, District 6.
Tel: (021) 461 4554.
Time: Tue - Sat @ 7:30pm, matinees Sat @ 2:30pm
Price: R250
Performances: 29 Jul - 14 Aug 2010
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
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After a phenomenally successful 2 year run, including 2 West
End seasons and breaking box office records, the international cast of
Sean Mathias’ Waiting for Godot tours to South Africa.
Sir Ian McKellen, one of the greatest theatre actors of our
time, nominated for two Academy Awards as best actor and internationally
renowned for his role as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, tops the cast as
Estragon; Roger Rees, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for 22
years, and recipient of a Tony Award, Olivier Award and an Emmy nomination
for his role in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby, plays
Vladimir; Olivier Award winning actor and UK television presenter, Matthew
Kelly, plays the role of Pozzo and Brendan O’Hea, who has acted
extensively across the UK, including productions with the Royal
Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, completes the cast in the
role of Lucky.
The casting for the Boy will take place in Cape Town, giving
two 11 year-old South African boys the unique opportunity of rubbing
shoulders and treading the boards with this stellar international cast.
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Sean Mathias spoke of how it came about to bring Godot to
the Fugard, “Whilst planning an International tour of Godot I felt
thwarted when the available dates of the South African theatres suitable
for the scale of our production and the actors’ availabilities didn’t
coincide. I then had the good fortune to attend the opening night of the
Fugard Theatre in Cape Town and pondered the notion of bringing Godot
there. We were about to tour Australia and New Zealand with a set that was
a large and intricate piece of architecture. Not only would the costs of
transporting it to SA be prohibitive but it would simply never fit into
the Fugard.
I puzzled further and thought why not bring the production
without the set, and therefore without the lighting design – why not
re-conceive the whole project? Having successfully played 14 major cities
internationally, including two London seasons, with a production that has
been acclaimed extensively, the Fugard Theatre then invited me to bring
the troupe of actors to them and to start our Godot anew. At the Fugard we
will play to an auditorium one quarter the size of other theatres we have
previously played and with an ad hoc set and a new lighting design by
Mannie Manim, we will re-invent our Godot wheel. The heart and soul of the
production – the actors’ performances, will remain intact (albeit a little
stirred) but in every other sense – the physical space, the visual impact,
the overall dynamics will debut at the Fugard Theatre.”
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