Sasolburg Common “Birds” of South Africa is a play about two small-town sisters, Cobalize and Jacomine, “klap the sokkietreffers” and discuss the finer points of braai ettiquete and casual alcoholism as they navigate the harsh realities of flame-grilling, hard chilling and finding a guy whose first name is not also a surname.
Unwilling to conform to any rules set by their culture, careers, or good taste, and with a tenuous grasp on social niceties, the van der Vlok sisters attempt to soar in life, as long as it doesn’t take too much effort.
The show features this year’s Maynardville leading “man”, Daneel van der Walt as Jacomine alongside her former classmate, Candice van Litsenborgh who also wrote the script. The two met at UCT where they both completed a BA Theatre and Performance, but they have not been seen on the same stage since Geoffrey Hyland’s 2004 production of Hamlet.
Not so common …
Daneel, born in Sasolburg, studied Theatre and Performance at UCT before Instagram existed. She then went on to work on her waitering skills and after a fairly impressive level of servitude was reached, she approached the theatre industry with a new found fervour. Since then she has been in shows like Juliet Jenkin’s Big Girl, Long Street Nights (directed by Nicky Rebelo), The Fugard’s Rocky Horror Show, Missing, (directed by Mdu Kweyama), Dani and the Lion: Last night at The Den, (written by her and directed by Nicholas Spagnoletti) and just made her Maynardville debut as Petruchio in Tara Nottcut’s The Taming of the Shrew. Also, if you listen to RSG, you might have heard her in a “radio drama” or two or voicing several animals in RSG se Storiedieretuin.
Candice grew up in Port Elizabeth (which at least isn’t Sasolburg). She also studied Theatre and Performance at UCT. She made her Cape Town theatre debut at Maynardville in Fred Abrahamse’s Much Ado About Nothing before going on to perform in a lot of musicals, including Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Annie, Little Shop of Horrors, Sweeney Todd, Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess, Assassins, Showboat, Sunset Boulevard and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. She has also became a perennial baddie at the annual Canal Walk children’s show. Now people find it weird if she does a show and doesn’t sing. She also works as a dubbing artist and photographer. For Canned Rice Productions she adapted the June Carter Cash book From the Heart for stage. She also wrote, co-produced and starred in Understudy Blues, Vacancy and Court.
Sasolburg Common “Birds” of South Africa is written by Candice van Litsenborgh and directed by Richard Firth.
What: Sasolburg Common “Birds” of South Africa
Where and when: Alexander Upstairs Theatre from 12 to 17 March
Book: Here
WS
