Lizz Meiring as Veuve Clicquot. Picture: Supplied
After six years of research, the multi-award-winning actress, author, director, producer, TV presenter and personality, Lizz Meiring will be starring in a solo theatre production called Die Weduwee se Sjampanje (The Widow’s Champagne) at the Atterbury Theatre in Tshwane on 7 November.
The talented actress brings the impressive and inspirational story of the Veuve (French for widow) Clicquot to the audience in a unique, entertaining performance. Meiring’s solo performance tells the story about the French widow, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot who singlehandedly revolutionised champagne- and winemaking methods in the 1800s.
The widow Clicquot certainly didn’t let her husband’s early death stop her from pursuing her legacy and letting her name be known. In fact, the entrepreneur had fire in her bones, or rather bubbles in her being and she became the woman who produced the world’s very first, pure champagne.
Hence, Champagne Day and all the celebratory bubbles of this week are ultimately thanks to her passion and dedication.
ALSO READ: Five MCCs to celebrate Champagne Day this year
Die Weduwee se Sjampanje is the first-ever theatre production worldwide that has been dedicated to the widow Clicquot, who died in 1866.
Meiring interprets her being perfectly in the solo performance, giving the audience a glimpse of who Barbe-Nicole Clicquot really was. Taking on the role of the widow Clicquot could certainly not have been an easy task, but in the production Meiring submerges herself in the past, reliving the Veuve Clicquot’s life story.
The production includes various interesting titbits of the champagne-making widow, her work, her life and the era in which she lived.
Barbe-Nicole Clicquot became a widow at the young age of 27 and she took over her husband’s business, eventually producing the champagne, Veuve Clicquot, which is now well-known the world over.
It is strange, though that very few people really know Veuve Clicquot’s story, while everyone knows and enjoys her champagne.
“She actually so desperately wanted to be recognised for her work,” says Meiring.
“She is an absolute symbol of someone who – despite everything – lived and prospered. I love stories like that.”
According to Meiring’s research on the widow, “she wanted a legacy, but she doesn’t really get recognition. She is fascinating. I think she was like P.G. du Plessis wrote in Siener in the suburbs: She wanted to be known about.”
Add a glass or two of champagne and you’re in for a celebratory treat with profound, passionate entertainment like no other with this theatre production, a world-first by none other than the talented Meiring.
Tickets can be booked at www.seatme.co.za.
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