Conjoining elements of screwball comedy and thrilling, psychological twists, Flughafen is a new theatrical experience from the runaway imagination of Alice Viskat and a quintet of the wildest young acting talents in the Cape. At turns claustrophobic and liberating, whimsical and tense, the play is a locked-room mystery quite unlike anything seen a South African stage. Think Knives Out meets The Americans in purgatory. You’ll probably want to come back to see it more than twice…
Get Flughafen tickets here.
In the meantime, snatch your seats for the debut run at The Outlore Base on Hout Street, Cape Town, from 15 to 19 November. Tickets are available for R150 on Quicket.
Twisted tapestry
Director and writer Alice Viskat is no stranger to the stage and has been acting, singing and dancing her way under the proscenium arch since she was three years old when she made her acting debut playing the cameo roles of a fairy, a pig and a clam. She went on to study at the Waterfront Theatre School where she graduated in 2020, decorated with many awards including Most Exceptional Ballet Dancer.
She then went into film, starring in Resident Evil (Netflix) and Boetie Boer (Showmax), amongst others. She also is the sole-owner of Evil Comedy, and is a successful stand-up comic. Flughafen is a twisted tapestry of her own harrowing airport experiences intertwined with a bit of the weird and wonderful workings of her mind.
Lead actress Melissa Pretorius (MelFunktion) is from Cape Town. She has worked with producer Gabi Le Roux and performed with kwaito legends General GTZ from Chiskop and the late Mandoza. She also spent multiple years as a resident performer at Stardust Theatrical dining. Mel ventured into the world of acting and did the Acting Technique 1 Short Course with Bonnie Rodini, she then studied at The Cape Academy of Dramatic Arts, she has her LAMDA Level 3 Certificate in Performance (Grade7) with Distinction and completed a BA Degree in Acting for camera at City Varsity in 2019. She has appeared in Arendsvlei, Tali’s Joburg Diary on Showmax and is in the third season of Projek Dina on Kyknet.
Grassy Spark band
Josh ‘Yoshe’ Riley makes his debut acting performance. Being no foreigner to the stage, as a founding member of Grassy Spark, he headlined major festivals while touring with UB40, Milky Chance and The Kooks. With a Bachelor’s in Psych and Philosophy fuelled by an obsession with the art of life, Yoshe aims to blow the audience away despite his lack of experience and training.
Mihir Soni is an ACT Cape Town graduate, who has spent the last two years working as an actor in theatre and film. He made his debut on stage as the lead in The Great Gatsby, at the Star Theatre in 2022. Mihir has worked on camera in a few TV shows and short films since, along with performing several improv comedy shows as a junior member of The Longshots.
Baked Shakespeare
Laura Kelly is from Cape Town. She has been performing with the theatre company Baked Shakespeare since 2021, recently travelling with them to the UK to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe and in venues across London. She has been involved in short films and productions throughout her career, including her first one-woman show earlier this year. Her love for live performance has even recently inspired her to pursue stand-up comedy.
Lee van der Merwe graduated with distinction from the Cape Academy of Performing Arts in 2016. She then went on to become a performer, choreographer, writer and teacher. She danced in the Cape Dance Company from 2013 – 2017 and created her debut choreographic works for the company, Sun – The Rite of Passage and A Portrait of Us. She has performed in productions such as Laced; the Awaji Arts Festival in Japan; Standing O Immersive’s Immortal; the Fugard Theatre’s West Side Story as Anybody’s; Mish Mash Media’s 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche as Dale; The Good, the Bad and the Fugly; and was cast as ‘Bella’ in the film The Date.
What: Flughafen play
When: 15 – 19 November 2023
Where: The Outlore Base, Cape Town CBD
Info: +27 72 075 0161, aliceviskat@gmail.com
WS
