Hannes Brummer as Henry and Rantebeng Makapan as Sticks
Paul Slabolepszy’s Mooi Street Moves resuscitates his reputation for the younger generation as one of our major playwrights. Written a decade and a half ago, the play has stood the test of time and the issues it explores are very much alive. Some of the fizz has gone out of the comedy, edgy in its day, but the scenario he creates is as riveting as ever.
Set in 1992, Henry Stone (Hannes Brummer), a down and out, white, country bumpkin arrives in Hilbrow at 2am searching for his brother at his last known address. Instead, he finds in the flat Sticks Letsebe (Ranteberg Makapan), a happy-go-lucky, “middle man” and small-time huckster. Hilbrow is at the time imploding. Absentee landlords and banks red-lining property have left the area to Rachmanism and gangsters. Sticks offers Henry friendship, food, accommodation and a job. Slabolepszy masterfully dissects Henry’s culture of white entitlement, while at the same time capturing the plea of the bewildered honest man who simply wants to make a living.
Explosive performances from Brummer and Makapan (who is particularly versatile) make for enthralling theatre, but director Moira Blumenthal could introduce more gradation into their relentless delivery. There is sufficient opportunity in the script, despite Slabolepszy hallmark frenetic style, for holding the occasional poignant pause.
This revival is an opportunity to extol the virtues of the well written play, an art that appears to be disappearing as our young playwirhgts seem to have blunted their pencils with too much bad television. We have here scenes that can sustain themselves for 30 minute without blackouts; characters who don’t talk to the air or imaginary people; dialogue that keeps the audience guessing; words that srping with integrity from the characters; and the ability to encapsulate a complex reality without some author trying to ramrod us with their message. What a pleasure.
