Some sizzling performances which will be staged in Durban this week, are sure to warm you up during this cold spell that has hit our shores. In the past week of the school holidays children and their parents can delight in what’s on offer on the local stages.
KickstArt presents Winnie the Pooh which will be staged at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre until Sunday July 16. This is a colourful performance of the much loved, AA Milne’s famous story of Christopher Robin and his best friends, the animals who live in the Hundred Acre Woods. It features a child cast starring: Blessing Xaba as Pooh, Iain Robinson as Eeyore, Lyle Buxton as Owl, Amahle Tembe as Piglet, Roland Perold as Rabbit, Keryn Scott as Kanga and Micah Stojakovic as Tigger.
Book through Computicket.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
The Young Performers Project presents Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which will be staged at the Playhouse Opera Theatre until Sunday July 16. This show will have the biggest cast yet – including 167 children from the age of five to 19 years old, from more than 50 government and private schools throughout KwaZulu-Natal.
This initiative was started in 2001 and created to empower pupils to explore musical theatre in a professional context. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the character of Joseph from the Book of Genesis. The show boasts some fabulous musical theatre songs sung in a variety of styles: from Elvis-themed rock and roll, to country and western, jazz, Charleston and 1970s go-go. Stand out numbers include Any Dream will Do; Close Every Door and One More Angel in Heaven.
The show features Aaron McIlroy as the Pharaoh and Georgie Mabbett Kelly as the narrator. It was directed by multi-award-winning, Johannesburg-based actor, producer/director and choreographer, Jaco van Rensburg. The enormous cast includes primary school learners for the first time, previously only high schools learned participated. Tickets are available through Webtickets.
Spoken word performance
And for the grown-ups, Dr Jeff and his son Ewok Robinson, known as Two Dubious Gurus, will perform at the St Clements Restaurant in Musgrave Road on Friday July14, from 6.30pm.
The father and son duo find their shared groove in a unique performance of poetry and music that is aesthetically aligned with their combined jazz and hip-hop roots. Mr Robinson is no stranger to the eThekwini scene. He is a spoken word hip hop activist and educator.
He’s an artist with both a national and international footprint, his work has found stages from as far afield as the Medellin International Poetry Festival in Colombia to the Uppsala Ordsprak Poetry Festival in Sweden.
Dr Jeff “The Jazzman” Robinson is also a familiar face in Durban. He is a multi–instrumentalist and artist – his primary platform for performance is with the jazz flute and alto saxophone.
Tickets cost R75 and are available at the door.
