This is a short notice to encourage people to see the English comic duo Kesselofski and Fiske currently on at the Baxter’s Sanlam Studio, who come to Cape Town thanks to a cultural exchange program with Sweden. Thirteen Swedish and ten South African youths are developing a theatre production led by the Phakama Community Theatre Group. We seem to be doing a lot with Sweden these days, now that SAAB has just come on board as sponsors of the Cape Town Opera.
In the form of a documentary (Discovery channel style) The Sinking of the Titanic tells the story through physical performance of the great ship and its tragic maiden voyage. Perhaps a little long in getting there, it is convincing, good, solid, British comic theatre – in the style of the Two Ronnies, and not shy to go into less well chartered waters. It is a deceptively clever piece, dissecting heroism, exploring issues of class war – vital to our understanding of the tragedy today.
Two middle-aged men on stage with a handful of props and sound effects bring the whole Titanic event, the horror and the myth to life, while elucidating the complex issues that surround our interpretation of historical events, far better than any multi-million dollar Hollywood feature ever did.
