As part of his year-long Artist-in-Residence (AIR) programme at the University of Johannesburg, playwright Mike van Graan has created My Fellow South Africans, a multi-sketch satirical revue in the tradition of his award-winning works Pay Back the Curry and State Fracture. Van Graan plans to tour his latest one-person revue around the country for at least a year to contribute to the themes that will shape the 2024 elections, and use the opportunity to undertake research into satire as a form of discourse, the evolution of a creative piece of contemporary social commentary over an extended period and alternative distribution models, with the ambition to perform the work in non-conventional spaces, including people’s homes!
Having premiered at ARTSCAPE in May 2023 where it initially had a three-week run, the season for My Fellow South Africans was extended by four weeks after the last week of the premiere season sold out.
The talented Kim Blanche Adonis performs this solo piece that combines comedy, singing, poetry and drama through sixty minutes of high energy and focus, and has earned much critical and audience praise for her talent, technical skills and commitment.
Building on the direction of some of the sketches by Rob van Vuuren and Daniel Richards in previous incarnations, Van Graan also directs this revue that includes older, adapted and new sketches, thereby expanding his creative involvement in the project and adding this to the producing and marketing roles that he generally plays in getting his works to the stage.
The same creative team has evolved an earlier work – He Had It Coming – also a multi-sketch piece, into a revue that focuses on the scourge of gender-based violence and its related themes. It is aimed particularly at high school learners and students to catalyse education and debate around this pandemic.
My Fellow South Africans has resonated with audiences across the board, touching on nerves with which many in our country can identify. Academics and NGO leaders, teachers and corporate CEOs, students and retirees – all have praised the work as tapping into our current anxieties and frustrations while allowing us a moment of catharsis and hope.
Here’s what some have said about My Fellow South Africans
So clever and entertaining as well as educational, funny, profound, real. Best hour spent in an intimate setting. Not to be missed.
- Laurence Esteve, co-director of the Zip Zap Circus
Political satire at its best. Brilliant script and exceptional acting that sharply capture the nuances of our society. Evokes laughter, sadness and hope.
- Mansoor Jaffer, Cape Cultural Collective
It is such a cleverly constructed play, with a brilliant performance by Kim Blanche Adonis.…It is the kind of play that should be performed to young people throughout the country and…followed by a discussion of the issues raised.
- Ryland Fisher, former editor of the Cape Times
My Fellow South Africans…just go and see this laugh-cry production by which you cannot be unmoved.
- Nancy Richards, former host of a women’s programme on SAfm
Extracts from some of the reviews are:
My Fellow South Africans is bracing satirical sketch comedy, performed by Kim Blanche Adonis with great skill…Adonis…is funny and fabulous and there are moments of laugh-out-loud laughter and we need that. – Robyn Cohen, Cape Robyn
My Fellow South Africans does exactly what it promises to do: it gives audiences an entertaining satirical take on contemporary South Africa and does so by merging wit and commentary in a provokingly entertaining manner. – Barbara Loots, Theatre Scene Cape Town
Die stuk volg in die voetspore van die bekroonde Pay Back the Curry, State Fracture en Land Acts en is ‘n uitbunding, satiriese katarsis vir ons veelvuldige krisisse, met selfspot en humor as salf en versterkmiddel teen die donker. – Susan Booyens, Litnet
(The piece follows in the footsteps of the acclaimed Pay Back the Curry, State Fracture and Land Acts and is an exuberant, satirical catharsis for our multiple crises with self-mockery and humour as ointment and strength against the darkness.) – Susan Booyens, Litnet
…this revue will spark conversation, discussion and debate, all of which are necessary in the year leading up to having our thumbnails stamped as we ink an ‘X’ onto a ballot. – Jamie Uranovsky, www.broadwayworld.com
My Fellow South Africans and He Had It Coming have been selected for the Redhill Arts Festival in Johannesburg from 28-30 July, serving as a precursor to a two-week run of My Fellow South Africans at Theatre on the Square in Sandton from 22 August to 2 September.
For more information, write to art27m@iafrica.com. Tickets for the two-week run at Theatre on the Square in Sandton below.
