Kerryn Warren, Santie du Toit, Shaun Saal, Kimberley Pappas, Candice Burgess and Jaime Uranovsky in The Full Monty. Kerryn Warren, Santie du Toit, Shaun Saal, Kimberley Pappas, Candice Burgess and Jaime Uranovsky in The Full Monty.
The Full Monty, at Roxy Revue Bar, GrandWest, until November 25, marks the 20th anniversary of the award-winning feel-good Broadway musical, derived from a hit film.
It is being staged by the Pinelands Players - a community theatre group. Direction is by Laura
Bosman.
In the old South Africa we would have referred to community theatre as “am-dram” - amateur dramatics - but that tag conjures up derogatory associations for many of us.
Am-dram is a term which is used around the world, but I associate the moniker with white people speaking in modulated High English BBC accents.
Racial demographics aside, I do not like the word am-dram as many in community theatre are professionally trained. We are seeing productions of excellence coming out of non-professional theatre groups - decidedly not “amateur”.
There are many reasons people do community theatre. They may be pursuing other careers and want to keep their skills up in their spare time or may be involved in TV work and want to keep up with live performance.
An example is Cape Town’s Julie Summers, who when she is not busy shooting TV series and films (she has played Mrs Milton - Spud’s mother - in all the Spud films) she goes back to her first love - the stage. It is the world of community theatre which is where she likes to be.
In an interview a few years ago, she said to me: “People say ‘gosh, all that work that you put into it and you are not being paid for it’. But we love it.”
The production of the musical The Wizard of Oz at Artscape (staged by the community group The G&S Society) blew me away.
It was a breathtaking in terms of set, costumes, and cast. The jibe doing the rounds was that the only “actor” being paid was the dog.
In general, in community theatre there is no remuneration for the actors - unless it’s an agency dog or the like.
Members of the creative team are sometimes paid stipends to assist with transport and expenses. In the main, profits are banked and go towards funding the next production. Costs are high: rights to the musicals/plays, costumes etc.
I salute the community theatre groups who are not only doing it for the love of theatre but are doing it for the love of community.
Frequently, performances are set aside to raise funds for worthy causes.
For The Full Monty, two shows have been dedicated as fund-raisers. That is much in sync with the story, which is about out-of-shape working-class men who strip to raise money for charity.
Director Bosman, who teaches drama at Pinelands High, has found it exciting and challenging in mounting this much-loved musical.
“The challenge for most community theatres is to find the right people who are willing to volunteer their time and talent.
“When time is at a premium for most people, volunteerism is slowly dying, and technically-skilled people seldom work for free.”
Tina Gough, who has designed the costumes for The Full Monty, added: “This show was quite a challenge for costumes as there are 25 scene-changes and actors also play duplicate roles.
“In community theatre, it’s not just one person who takes on this kind of role. It’s about team work.
“We don’t have the resources to ‘delegate’ or outsource. Everyone, from committee members to backstage crew and cast, works together to get it right.”
As to the demographic question, Bosman said: “I can’t speak for other societies and their productions, but I will always cast people who are right for the part.
“It doesn’t matter to me what their racial or any other demographic is, unless the script calls for a specific trait which we can’t do without.
“We have four people of colour in this production, two of whom have central roles as part of the stripping six.
“Anyone can audition for any role. We put our audition notices out on our Pineland Players Facebook page, and newsletters go out to all the societies.”
Bosman is delighted with the talent and energy of her cast.
One of the cast members, Regina Malan, trained as an opera singer. She has a BMus (Hons) from Stellenbosch University specialising in performance - opera, lieder and acting.
* The Full Monty is on at Roxy Revue Bar, GrandWest, until November 25 (Wednesdays to Saturdays at 7.30pm). Tickets are R130.
Book at Quicket.co.za The venue seats only 160, so booking is essential.