Enjoy live theatre in your living room this Saturday

Movies and books are great, but there’s something so personally engaging and immediate about live theatre. However, since the global and devastating arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, the latter has been in short supply.

As a result, lovers of theatre are going through withdrawal, while stage actors aren’t able to make ATM withdrawals.

But don’t fret. Our actors are known for great improvisation and have come up with a solution – in the form of weekly virtual theatre experiences – that can help them as well as their loyal audiences.

In case you missed the first performance last week, &Scene’s weekly reunion show Together Again was a successful homage to the Rent stage production.

“Every week on Together Again, we are so excited to help audiences relive incredible moments of South African theatre,” said &Scene producer and director Drew Bakker in a statement.

And what better way to spend this Saturday night than with Natasha Van Der Merwe, Craig Urbani, Alistair Izobell, Michael Richard, Paul Ditchfield, Alan Swerdlow and Leila Henriques as they bring The Buddy Holly Story into your living room.

“For Buddy ‘93: Together Again, we are thrilled to bring together members of the original company in a fireside chat version for a much more intimate night of stories,” said Bakker.

First staged in 1993, The Buddy Holly Story was the first live bio-musical seen in South Africa and it performed to packed theatres for six years.

Last week’s virtual performance of Rent: Together Again helped raise R10,000 for the organisation during the broadcast to assist its performers hard-hit by the Covid-19 restrictions.

“This is all to support a great cause and to raise funds and awareness for the incredible work that the Theatre Benevolent Fund is doing for members of all facets of the entertainment community,” said Bakker.

Expressing his excitement about Saturday’s show, Craig Urbani said he was greatly looking forward to the reunion and can’t wait to sing some Buddy songs, reunite with a few of the old cast members and enjoy good chats about this incredible production.

“A huge thank you to &Scene for creating this platform. I’ll see you all on Saturday, 9 May!” said Urbani.

Info

• Tune in tomorrow at 6pm on &Scene’s Facebook Live and YouTube channels to catch all the excitement.
• For direct viewing links, visit www.andscene.live

(Compiled by Hayden Horner)