“SHIRLEY VALENTINE”

“SHIRLEY VALENTINE” with ANTHEA THOMPSON
directed by PAUL GRIFFITHS : design by NIALL GRIFFIN

at : Kalk Bay Theatre
Dates : 30 January – 17 February 2008
Time : Wednesday to Sundays – doors open 18h45 : show starts @ 20h30

Tickets: R250 [includes 3 course meal] : R230 [includes 3 course meal] & R100 [show only] per person
Specials :
opening night only – 2 for 1 on theatre tickets only & meals discounted by 30%

Presented by Big Leaf Productions “SHIRLEY VALENTINE” stars Award winning actress, ANTHEA THOMPSON. Paul Griffiths directs and Niall Griffin is the designer.
Shirley Valentine is a middle-aged Liverpool housewife who is offered a chance to take a Greek vacation. Will she accept the opportunity of a lifetime and take a leap into the unknown? Brimming with forthright comedy and pithy observations, Shirley shows us how to be who we are, and how to embrace life.
Author Willy Russell’s other works include Blood Brothers and Educating Rita. His work is notable for its sparkling Scouse [Liverpudillian] humour and its compassionate core. Through his writing it is possible to feel a sense of his characters’ aspirations and their failed and foiled dreams.
Anthea was last seen in the critically acclaimed production of Romeo and Juliet and needs no introduction to Cape Town audiences for her exceptional performances over the years – performances that have garnered her no less than 7 nominations for Best Actress. Her performance as Shirley is a feast for the theatrical gourmet.

ANTHEA THOMPSON

Anthea has just finished an acclaimed performance in Broadway Babes at On Broadway and reprises her triumphant performance in Shirley Valentine for a run at The Kalk Bay Theatre in February. This time last year she wowed the crowds in the Maynardville production of Romeo and Juliet where she played the Nurse in her seventh outing at Maynardville – other performances include Beatrice in Much Ado, Titania and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Amelia in Othello, Rosalind in As You Like It and Perdita in Winters Tale. These performances have garnered her various award nominations for Best Actress and a Fleur Du Cap award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance of Hermia.
Anthea is no stranger to contemporary text either having performed in such classics as Peter Schaeffers Amadeus and Dario Fo’s Elizabeth – a performance that garnered her yet another Fleur Du Cap award as Best Supporting Actress.
She is committed to the development of new writing in South Africa and has frequently been seen in Proudly South African Plays. These credits include: Crooked, The Shadrak Affair ,The Agency and Church full of Light.
Anthea’s versatility has ensured her longevity in the theatre business and her talents have frequently extended into Musical Theatre. Her award winning performances in Cabaret and The Shakespeare Revue are fondly remembered as is her starring role as Evita, her role as Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods and Chava in Fiddler on the Roof – all for Artscape. Anthea has also performed in Children’s Theatre at Canal Walk in Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Three Little Pigs.
Anthea is a consummate Afrikaans Actress and has performed in several Afrikaans plays including: Mama Medea, Hartsondes, Die Jogger and Onder die Brug. Once again her performances in Die Jogger and Onder die Brug were award winning. Anthea’s Television credits include: Laugh out Loud for M-Net, Mazinyo.Q, Fela, Madam and Eve and Out on a Limb all for the SABC.
Anthea also writes and directs. Her production of Freaks? was performed at the Warehouse Theatre in 2002 and her second play 6 by 12 was performed at Somerset College in 2003. In 2005 she directed Shirley Kirchmann in Train Your Man and last year she directed Stealing Venus for the Toronto Festival 2006.
She has been a guest lecturer at The UCT Drama Department and has offered Master Classes in Comedy. She was an external examiner for UCT for 3 yrs.
She continues to be one of South Africa’s most prolific and respected actresses.

PAUL GRIFFITHS

Paul’s professional career in theatre started as an actor in Musical Theatre Productions including Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar (National Tour), Evita (National Tour), Peter Pan, Camelot, Mame and Fiddler on the Roof (National Tour). He is also completed one season at Maynardville in The Taming of the Shrew.
After four years of working around South Africa, Paul moved to London where he spent the next 8 years, returning to South Africa in November 2004.
Whilst in London Paul completed an MA with Distinction in Theatre Directing from Middlesex University – a course which included modules at The GITIS Conservatory in Moscow, RESAD Drama School in Madrid and master classes from The Berliner Ensemble. Following this course of study Paul shifted his career focus from being on stage to directing.
It was as a director that Paul continued to develop his career in the UK. His last position in London was as Associate Director of The Bridewell Theatre where he produced a lunchtime season of plays (8 plays in total) to an audience of city workers. This stint at The Bridewell included periods where Paul was Acting Artistic Director.
Prior to joining The Bridewell, Paul had been Education Associate for The Orange Tree theatre in Richmond where he directed the theatre’s Shakespeare-in-School Programme, this programme currently performs to an average of 20 000 people per year. His appointment at The Orange Tree followed a stint as one of the Theatre’s Trainee Directors; a coveted position for emerging directors with an impressive allumni.
In 2003 Paul was invited to join the prestigious Young Director’s Programme at The Royal National Theatre-London. This programme is offered to 12 emerging directors and is led by Directing luminaries including Sir Peter Brook and Sir Peter Hall.
Paul’s directing credits abroad include: A Place with the Pigs by Athol Fugard, The Simple Truth by Michael Gurr, Equal Partners by David Tomlinson, Twelfth Night and The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Me and My Friend by Gillian Plowman and the musicals My Fair Lady, Snoopy and Annie.
Upon returning to South Africa Paul joined the Waterfront Theatre School in Cape Town as a Senior Lecturer. In 2006 he took over as head of the drama department and has worked consistently to develop their current drama programme. He started his own production company Bigleaf Productions to give himself a platform for directing a wider range of work. For Bigleaf Productions Paul has directed The Open Couple by Dario Fo ( Artscape), The Simple Truth by Michael Gurr (for the Grahamstown Festival), The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown (The Intimate Theatre in Cape Town and The Liberty Theatre on The Square in Johannesburg) and Shirley Valentine by Willy Russel.
His production of The Simple Truth was listed by Cape Town critics as one of the top 5 productions of the 2006 Grahamstown Festival. His production of The Last Five Years was voted number 4 in the list of top 10 productions for 2006 as well as being nominated for a Fleur du Cap People’s Choice Award.
In addition to teaching and directing, Paul has also been involved in the Ikhwezi Project at the Baxter Theatre, a programme that aims to mentor young directors and actors from the local community. The Ikhwezi project concluded a season of 15 new plays last year at the Baxter Sanlam Studio.
Paul is actively involved in the New Writing Programme run by Roy Sargeant at Artscape and is very excited to be part of this project to develop new writing in this country.
Paul latest production of Shirley Valentine is currently running at the Kalk Bay Theatre.

“FACE-IT”

“Face-IT” with Anne Hirsch
directed by Alicia Price
At Kalk Bay Theatre : Wednesday to Saturday from 20 February – 15 March, 2008
[NB : no show on February 29 - extra show on Sunday, March 02]

Tickets – R220 [includes 3 course meal] : R200 [includes 3 course meal] : R140 [theatre ticket + pasta] & R85 [show only].
Specials –
Students only – Theatre tickets : R50 [on production of a valid student card] + pasta for another R50 if you choose

What if the laws of technology applied to real life? This is the premise that Prisch Productions Face-IT explores in this zany, mixed media, one-person comedy extravaganza.
Centred around the internet and specifically the new online social obsession- Facebook- UCT Theatre and Performance Masters candidates, Anne Hirsch and Alicia Price, explore and stretch our everyday behaviour to the ridiculous. Face-IT blurs the boundaries between technology and everyday life exposing and “poking” fun at the false sense of intimacy that the Internet can create, including the multitudes of ways that applications like photo-shop allows us to (mis) represent ourselves online. You will recognise all the kooky characters you meet: from the mom who will go to extremes to protect her children from the dangers of the internet; to finally discovering the person behind ‘that voice’ we hear on TV, the radio, at airports, when you’re put on hold…

Price and Hirsch met two years ago in their postgraduate programme at UCT. Finding they shared the same sharp sense of humour and desire to comment on their digitised, media-obsessed world- the duo began to collaborate under the name Prisch Productions as writers, director and actor respectively. Prisch has developed their own distinctive style and have already achieved somewhat of a cult status amongst the UCT community.

With a combined total of 6 University qualifications between them and a passion for the arts in South Africa- Prisch Production’s hope to create theatre that holds it’s finger to the pulse of contemporary society. With tongue firmly in cheek, they investigate our everyday experiences, exposing the ridiculous therein- creating something fun, funny and always a good night out.

Prisch Productions invites you to organise your designated driver, top up your drink and bring your “LOL” button out to a night at the theatre!

“Seriously, I don’t even know these people and they keep poking me” – Alan Committie

“Holy flippen wow guys, a show about the interweb! Don’t be kak, book now!” – Twakkie for The Most Amazing Show.