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No. 2
International actresses pack a punch with their one-
woman shows
Standing alone on a stage for 90 minutes takes a lot of guts. But then so too does leaving behind your baby to go and look after another woman's child. Thembi Mtshali knows a lot about both. Growing up in the South African townships, Mtshali saw her parents once a year when they travelled back from the city to visit. Years later, the cycle repeated itself when she too was forced to leave her home and child to look for work. Fortunately for Mtshali, her talent as an actress and singer led her to become one of South Africa’s top performers, but the pain of those early years is clearly etched in her acclaimed new play A Woman In Waiting. ’It was very hard when I was writing it, trying to go back and re-visit every place,’ explains Mtshali. 'Because you forget as you go through life what has happened to you, and when I went back it was kind of shocking.’
The play also came as quite a shock to those in the audience, in particular Mtshali's mother and daughter. 'My daughter cried when she first saw the play,’ says Mtshali. ’These are the things that as children you don’t understand. My mother also burst into tears when she finally realised how we felt when she was never there.’
them: .DRE‘.
Maybell
your way. . .
‘ , A :1 m Thembi Mtshali bides her time
man In Waiting/
‘ne - The Living Fashion Doll
Eighteen inches of fun is coming
in A Woman In Waiting while Madeleine Sami keeps it in the family in No. 2
theatre comedy dance music: books
And Mtshali’s tales of the deep-rooted cruelty inherent in the Apartheid system may prove an eye-opener to some. ‘lt's quite educational for people who have not
experienced the South African life,’ says Mtshali. ’But it’s
even educational for our children who are growing up in this new era, and don’t really understand what
happened. My granddaughter thinks things were always
like this.’
(Kelly Apter)
Fringe acts come in all shapes and sum But never before has there been so tiny a performer with so big a personality, as lvlaybellene. Sc'eptics might say she's Just a grown man in make-up positioned on a Barbie-esgue toy body, but haying spoken to the diminutive diva, I can report that Maybellene is alive and well and heading to Edinburgh 'l hear "Scotchlaiid" is in Edinburgh, is that right7' she whispers in a Marilyn Monroe meets Sandra Dickinson drawl, explaining that this is her first time in the city. Aware that the Fringe is a highly competitive arena, she is not perturbed, ’I think my glamour will see me through, frankly I find it goes a long way.’
Maybellene is performing countless fifteen minute shows over an eight hour period each day. 'lt’ll be tiring,' she says, 'but luckin my make-up has
Also braving the stage alone this Festival, is award- winning New Zealand actress Madeleine Sami. Despite being only twenty, Sami has already garnered every theatrical award her country can throw at her, and this latest venture may well win her some more. Written by Toa Fraser, No. 2 is a celebration of Fijian family life which finds Sami playing nine characters ranging from a ten-year-old child to an 83-year-old matriarch.
‘When we first rehearsed, she was the hardest person to find,’ explains Sami of the cantankerous great grandma. 'Simply because her energy is so different from mine. But I’ve got her now.’ New Zealand critics ran out of superlatives when the show opened there last June, and Sami is confident the humour will translate to this side of the globe.
’You might miss out on a few things that only Kiwis would get,’ says Sami. ‘But underneath it’s a story about a family, and families are universal. The play's funny because it’s real; well as real as you can get with one person playing nine people on one stage!’
« For details, see Hit/ist, right.
been sprayed on in Taiwan, so it’s gonna last the full duration’ Her kitchen sink dramas include the tale of an obsesswe 1950s houseWife who falls down a drain after miXing two noXious Substances together But it's not all gritty drama. ’l have an entire team of designers who work night and day to come up with the latest fashions,’ she says of her dedication to a life of glamour. The posmble on- stage appearance of her ’clream date, ideal mate’ Ben is shrouded in controversy ’That’s a touchy subject —- didn’t my publicist tell you that?’ she barks. And whatever you do, don't mention Barbie or Sindy »- 'l have nothing at al/ to say about those bimbos ' (LOuisa Pearson)
Maybelle/7e: The LiVing Fashion Doll (Fringe) P/easance (Venue 33,) 556 6550, 4-28 Aug (not 7, 27) 2 70pm (fifteen minute performances) [2
Skip lunch and feast on these instead. . .
A Woman In Waiting
See preView, left. A Woman In Waiting (Fringe) Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, 3--28 Aug (not 8, 22) 2.30pm. [9/f70 ([8/[9i
Dream Date
lmprowsational fun Street Mate- style, as the course of true love gets a helping hand. See preView on followmg pages. Dream Date (Fringe) The Old Spontanei'ty Shop, Gilded Balloon (Venue 38) 226 2 75 7, 4—28 Aug (not Mon) 7.75pm, [750 (£6.50).
Mojo
Je7 Butterworth's hard-hitting tale of small time gangsters immersed in a seedy world of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll in 505 Soho. See preView on followmg pages. Moio (Fringe) The Really Youthful Theatre Company, Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, 4-28 Aug, 7.30pm, [IO/£77 ([9/f70).
No.2
See preView, left No. 2 (Fringe) Assembly Rooms (Venue 3) 226 2428, 44 28 Aug (not 74)
2. 75pm. [8.50/[950 (£7.50/f850).
Somebody To Love
The pleasure and pain of a love. triangle, set to some of Queen's finest moments. See preView on following pages. Somebody To Love (Fringe) Blow Up Theatre, P/easance Two (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 28 Aug (not 8, 22) 7.40pm, [7/[8 ([6/f7).
Stand-Up: A Play About Comedy
TV stalwart Roy Marsden directs this comi-tragic look at the cut throat world of stand-up comedy. See preView on following pages. Stand-Up; A Play About Comedy (Fringe) Green & Lenagan, Pleasanc'e (Venue 33) 556 6550, until 20 Aug (not 7) 2.20pm,
21 28 Aug, 72.30pm, [8.50/f9 ([7. 50/[8).
3-- 10 Aug 2000 THE lIST FESTIVAL GUIDE 55