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Curses! Doth Macbeth take revenge?
TO THE RESCUE: Manny Fokus stepped in at the last moment to take over the roll of a sea captain and priest after actor David Roll had to be admitted to hospital. Fokus has not acted for 34 years.
Eleanor Douglas-Meyers
The notorious curse of Macbeth - absent from a successful production of the play in Port Elizabeth last year may just have felt a 12-month delay was long enough and decided to disrupt Twelfth Night.
The PE Shakespearean Festival's annual production - which returned to the Mannville open-air theatre in St George's Park this year - was hit by a series of suspiciously Macbeth-like maladies which meant a weekend performance had to be cancelled.
But the glitches did not stop the festival's technical company manager, Manny Fokus, from once again treading the boards - or in this case, the greensward - and filling in for an ill actor after last having made a stage appearance 34 years ago.
After a successful first week's run, the cast and crew had gathered at a pub to celebrate on Friday.
But later that night, after the festivities had continued, David Roll who plays two smaller roles and had been struggling with the night air in the park - suffered major respiratory distress which eventually landed him in hospital at 4am.
Meanwhile, leading actor Neville Staples - playing Orsino - who coincidentally works at the hospital and had visited Roll there, also felt unwell, collapsed, and was admitted to hospital and later discharged after tests.
Company president Rocky Mann said although they were always hesitant to attribute anything to powers outside of their control, this particular production of Twelfth Night had been prone to a suspicious number of physical challenges for its cast.
"During the early rehearsal period, two of our young actors were brought down by strange afflictions.
"Erin-Ashleigh Palmer, without warning, was admitted to hospital and had emergency surgery to remove kidney stones, while Mia Shoemaker, one of our dancing girls, suspiciously fractured a rib on stage."
Mann said a spider bite and a mysterious lung infection had also resulted in director Lesley Barnard having to spend the better part of the show's opening week bedridden.
"All in all, despite the incidents, our cast and crew are excited and committed to providing a performance night after night [until Saturday] of the highest standard," Mann said.
With only a day of rehearsal, Fokus, 58, who last did the play in 1981, played a priest and a sea captain.
According to theatrical superstition - called the Scottish curse - speaking the name Macbeth inside a theatre will cause disaster if it is not part of a rehearsal or performance.
The Herald
March 4, 2015.
Magic returns to Mannville
'Twelfth Night' production splendid choice for outdoor venue's return
STARRY NIGHT: Helen Flax as Maria, Tim Collier as Feste the Fool, John Keevy as Sir Toby Belch and Bennie Gerber as Malvolio in the PE Shakespearean Festival's production of'Twelfth Night'. Picture: IVOR MARKMAN
Review: INA RANDALL.
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare; presented by the Port Elizabeth Shakespearean Festival at the Mannville Theatre in St George's Park until March 7.
Director: Lesley Barnard; featuring Neville Staples, Kelly Mucka, Bennie Gerber, John Keevy, Helen Flax, Emily Bradley, David Emery, Tim Collier and ensemble.
Fortune smiled broadly on the Port Elizabeth theatre community when the revamped Mannville Open Air Theatre was reopened with a gala premiere of Twelfth Night on Tuesday night.
The production was brilliant, the balmy night was windless and even the mozzies kept their distance.
After four years of being stymied by crime and vandalism, the Shakespearean Festival could return home with the help of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality's parks department, which was honoured for its sterling work in rendering the venue renewed and secure.
Director Lesley Barnard and her cast delivered a product which honoured the tradition of "Stratford-on-Baakens", the title once bestowed on Port Elizabeth by South African theatre veteran Andre Huguenet.
Barnard and her co-conspirators smoothly hijack Shakespeare's little bit of Mills and Boon into island-style eighties, beguiling the audience with strains of Magnum and The Love Boat.
It works like a charm, the players clearly at ease as they move to well-rehearsed but unobtrusive directorial instruction.
Shakespeare's romantic tale stands against a background of bawdy fun: Twins Viola and Sebastian are shipwrecked.
Unbeknown to one another (each thinks the other drowned) they happen on the court of Count Orsino of Ilyria.
Which brings us to the Mills and Boon: Orsino (Neville Staples) is madly in love with neighbouring lady Olivia (Emily Bradley).
Shipwrecked Viola (Kelly Mucka) disguises herself as a young man and becomes Orsino's right hand page and emissary to his beloved.
Naturally Olivia falls in love with Viola in her guise as page, while Viola falls in love with Orsino.
But fear not, for there is a twin brother (James Smith) who soon comes into the mix and allows the love quadrangle to be sorted.
Smith and Staples carry off their somewhat limited roles with aplomb but Shakespeare gives the two leading ladies the better opportunities.
Bradley veers charmingly and convincingly between regal and kittenish.
Mucka makes the most of the best role in the comedy as she skittishly negotiates the pitfalls of her deception.
Her pretend fight scenes are quite hilarious.
Those flowery island costumes are genius be use of the superb way in which Barnard uses them to characterise and ridicule.
Sir Andrew Aguecheek's ultimate flowery shorts and singlet put a crowning glory on David Emery's fine rendition of the bumbling knight come a courting.
The ample body of Sir Toby Belch (fulsomely played by John Keevy) also makes excellent use of the flowing fashion.
And then there is uptight Malvolio in pukka sahib khaki (yip, think Higgins, if you are old enough to remember).
The opening night audience left little doubt of who their favourite character was.
Bennie Gerber's portrayal of the hapless steward would get an Oscar in Hollywood.
The Bard's customary Elizabethan comic crew were completed by Tim Collier as Feste the Fool and the lusty Maria, originator of much mischief, played with relish by Helen Flax.
All the players in this production are good.
Diction is virtually perfect and the Shakespearean lines are spoken with a clarity and understanding I have seldom come across.
It was truly wonderful to sit in Mannville and hear every word, surely also thanks to the new sound system and good work by the sound operators.
The programme also lists the backstage crew, who are to be roundly congratulated.
If this be the food of theatre, may there be much more on the Mannville menu.
The Herald
February 27, 2015.