DIRT goes to Theatre on the Square

Very exciting news... we are going to be at Theatre on the Square with DIRT from the 28 May to 8 June.  We have recently revisited it for its fabulous run at the Fringe World Festival in Perth (where it was nominated for an Artrage Award) and now we hit Joburg... right before the National Arts Festival It's all happening.  Come see.

DIRT

'Three estranged friends get back together for the funeral of a fourth.  Their friend might be dead, but their friendship is still kicking.'

The performance of the festival. ~ Western Australian, World Fringe, Perth
Thrilling lines, ringing ironies, hilarious gags... it changed my life. ~ Zane henry, The Argus
One of the funniest actors in the country. ~ Sunday Times
I thought I was having an asthma attack I was laughing so hard. ~ Megan's Head
Nothing short of a triumph. ~ Peter Tromp, Another 48 Hours
It is phenomenal!!  ~ yoursoapbox.co.za
A masterclass in solo stagecraft. ~ Karen Rutter, Cape Times
...in 'n klas van sy eie. ~ Deborah Steinmair, Die Burger
Cairns is almost so good at what he does it's almost ridiculous. ~ artsblog.co.za

Having gone their separate ways, the poker club are back together to bury their mutual friend. On a journey from Johannesburt to Cape Town the trio trade insinuations, insults, and injuries as they try to dig up the past and bury the present.  Grant is nervous about giving the eulogy for a man he admired greatly but could never live up to.  Sam is still angry about the last time they saw each other and can't see the point in having male friends anyway.  Wayne is sad that their friend is dead but can't help thinking that this is his best change to finally get rid of the dog with the embarrassing habit.  Driving high-speed through some painful, poignant and often hilarious territory, they arrive at the graveside with some serious injuries and some surprising insights about the nature of male friendship.

Kicking up Dirt in Perth

James as the ever slimy obnoxious 'Sam'
Photo by Helena Waldmann

James has been in Perth for the past week shaking it up with with Dirt and The Three Little Pigs at the Fringe World Festival... as part of a selection of South African theatre sent over by our National Arts Festival.  Which is so exciting.  I just wish we (Nick and I) could be there too.  For me it is my first international outing with a piece of work.  If I look at the pics below for long enough I can teleport myself there and for a moment I can feel the bustle of a ticket tent.  The distant sounds of a local band. The laugher pouring out from under an umbrella.  The faint taste of cold beer.  Nice.  And then add to that cafe lights and a whole lot of great theatre.  Love.  Envy.  Sigh.  So yes there is a lot of buzz emanating from the heatwave in West Australia on the South African theatre that is there at the moment.... Rob Van Vuuren had something to say about it being hotter than hot...

So what's up with James down under...

'The Three Little Pigs'... which I was lucky enough to catch again in Cape Town a few weeks ago is rocking...  A great review here.  What original brave theatre.  I loved it the first time.  And more still the second time.  And then Dirt has been called by one reviewer 'the performance of the festival.'  And both shows have been nominated for an Artrage Theatre Award.  Check it out.  It's exciting.

James and I spent many hours and days re-rehearsing Dirt, getting it back up on its feet and then taking it further... to be ready to head to Australia.  We spent the first part of our rehearsals remembering the blocking and then about three days in, it got exciting...  When you move beyond the words and the basic blocking and into the intricacies of each characters rhythm, speech pattern, vibration, physical state...  When you can think of the three lead characters playing in a jazz band trio.  Wayne... the unpredictable wind instrument bouncing all over the place... on a tangent of his own.  The comic foil.  Sam... the trombone drawing out his words in his inward self satisfying drawl.  The one we love to hate.  Grant... the drum beat... the constant... the fixed point... the voice of reason holding it together.  The guy you trust.  So, from voice to the minute detail of theatrical space... creating the illusion through carefully plotted reactions, eye-line, transitions.  I thought so very many times how schizophrenic it all was... he talks to himself so very well.  The magic of theatre.

The festival hub.  How pretty.
Photo by Cam Campbell

Throngs of theatre goers... makes me want to go too.
Photo from World Fringe facebook page

Dirt revisited.

A week in Cape Town of re-rehearsing Dirt for the Perth Fringe Festival next week... is coming to an end.  What a lovely thing to revisit the show after quite a long time... Taking it further and further... Defining the characters more and more... Making it clearer and clearer.  What fun.  Rhythm.  Resonance. Vibration.  Physicality.  Six characters, two dogs... and go.  Yesterday we went to visit Simon and Helen from the Kalk Bay Theatre to chat about our new project.  Here is James making the short steep trek up the hill to their home with the most wonderful view of the sea.

(see full image)

Of fights and friendship...

Bizcommunity wrote a fab synsopsis for Dirt...


"From the sap star actor Sam, with an ego the size of Everest, to the exhausted new father Grant, who's terrified of his post-natal wife, and to Wayne, a man whose life has fallen through the cracks but who hasn't realised it yet, Cairns inhabits his comical characters with hilarious effect and takes the audience on a journey of fights and friendship."  Bizcommunity.  Rock on.

We opened in an apparently very cold Grahamstown yesterday.  We leave this afternoon.  
I love this time of year.

Rocking Hilton...

We went off the the Hilton Witness Arts festival this last weekend... where Dirt was totally sold out... there were people sitting in the isles and along the sides of the stage... impromptu theatre in the round... lovely. How divine to perform for such a massive amount of people... We arrived just in time for our technical rehearsal sans step ladder... Which we forgot in Joburg. Of course. The theatre rocked and the technician / stage manager Romi also rocked. We achieved all of our lighting stages... AND... we had a programmable lighting board. Very rare. Very cool. We plotted lights, did our run through and then hit the hardware stores in search of a new step ladder. James made me listen the AC/DC THE WHOLE TIME! DADADADAAAAA... THUNDER!!!!!! Gr angry music. Mm. But he assured me that he would stop as soon as we found the ladder.... 10 HARDWARE STORES LATER. I ate chocolate and mock headbanged.

It was freezing cold oh-so. The night before I had gone out for dinner and was told that it was like 40 degrees in Hilton and that the people were passing out from heat exhaustion. I didn't take a coat. I totally forgot that Hilton's weather is schizophrenic... It was so cold I brought a jumper and got Nick to pack my coats (he was arriving the next day). The next day was so hot we could hardly breathe! I mean - what is that?

Nick arrived... just in the Nick of time... Qwa Qwa. The ladder with the AC/DC soundtrack had to painted black... of course it did... and well - it hadn't actually dried. Nick arrived from Jo-burg 10 minutes before our first show with the original forgotten ladder and saved the day... or show.

The Witness newspaper said that 'The piece is sometimes crude, but it is always funny — often very funny indeed.' Margaret von Klemperer

It was a big weekend. I had my birthday there as well - and got spoiled rotten by Nick - brought a vintage hat at the flee market - played to a full house - received massive applause - all in all a very very good day.

We also saw some amazing amazing theatre. Particularly Tree Boy... a complete feast of visual delight. I just loved loved loved it. Beautiful work by a massive and highly creative team lead by Neil Coppen.

Neil Coppen's Tree Boy - photo by Sian Cohen

Now we are back in Johannesburg in the throws of work... But the distant sound of applause is still with me. The AC/DC ladder is living out his death metal torchered life, alone, in the back of the Hilton Boys Theatre, in the dark... Quietly drying. Thunder!

Opening Dirt

So I arrived in Cape Town early on Wednesday morning, last week, for the opening of Dirt - which Nick wrote and James acts in - at the Kalk Bay Theatre... James collected me from the airport in his new super cool super outrageous seeing glasses - which I spent about 30 mins trying not to stare at them to work out if they were seeing glasses or sunglasses... or both... until eventually he said... so these are my actual seeing glasses... Yes. Quite. James is fantastically bizarre and that's one of the many reasons why we love him. James is also the only actor - or person for that matter - who arrives at my house at 4am to pack the car for the Grahamstown Arts Festival dressed like MacGyver... yellow army pants, Swiss army knife housed in what looked like a tool belt, and a head lamp... yes... a head lamp... on his head. But I'm talking about Cape Town. Right. So opening night... what a ride as always... We spend hours in the day rehearsing with the lights, props and music... After a fab intro from Simon Cooper...

Fade to Black and... go track... Error! Er... okay... eject CD... and go... Erroooor... eject CD... GO... ERROR... change CD - to old one with music transitions that are too short - Go track... Phew! Theatre. Really. That's perhaps why we love it.

So besides not having enough music to fully cover the blackouts > a few misplaced props > the odd late cue > a dropped line here and there >>> we got a standing ovation - followed by a whack of fab reviews. Cape Argus gave us 5 stars and said Nick's writing was brilliant - The Sunday Times said James is a genius and gave him a massive pic.... looking fantastic!


Yes this is the picture. How rad?

I also met super brilliant Director Lara Bye at the opening... And I think I gushed. Well I know I gushed. All over the place. But so would you if you'd seen 'London Road' and 'I Claudia.' What's that little puddle on the floor? Oh right it's me... Blind. I think.

Grahamstown 2010 thus far...

Deborah and Roberto in High Diving

It has been a successful Grahamstown 2010... thus far... High Diving won an Ovation Award... Dirt has been really received rather well... and there is interest to take it to the Hilton Festival as well as a possible run in Cape Town... we don't know yet about 969 in Joburg... but yay! Very exciting to have new work that people dig!

James in Dirt

We have our Making Mandela play reading this afternoon - it has been such a wonderful process having the play read by professional actors and brilliant Rhodes students - it's sounding really fab - I think anyway... but we'll see how this afternoon goes.

Had an interview on SAFM - that was cool - quite sure I said daft things - but hey.

Other fest bests... 'Karoo Moose' - wowser what brilliant rousing theatre. 'London Road' - what a script what fantastic performances what stunning direction. 'I Claudia' - I was still spontaneously bursting into tears hours after show. Tonight I'm seeing 'Kaput!' and cannot wait... and tomorrow i'm seeing the wonderful Janni Younge's new piece. It as been truly a wonderful festival. Rock on.

High Diving into Dirt

Our fabulous Grahamstown posters for High Diving and Dirt. I cannot actually believe we leave this Friday - eek! Quite nervous - excited - pressed for time! Of course we also have a public reading of Making Mandela. If you're anywhere near Grahamstown come watch between games, drinking, live music, flee market shopping...