Culture weekend

Theatre lovers in Cape Town can indulge in the vibrant and colourful musical world of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeomen Of The Guard at the Artscape Theatre, where love rules, or explore the life of literary genius Herman Charles Bosman as a schoolteacher in the Groot Marico bushveld in A Teacher In The Bushveld at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio. For the little ones, the delightful children's classic Goldilocks And The Three Bears follows the adventures of Goldilocks in the forest and is also on at the Baxter.

At the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square in Joburg, James Ngcobo's revision of Athol Fugard's Boesman And Lena shows more pertinent it is in 2012 than ever, with the sensational musical Cabaret wooing the crowds at Montecasino.

Last chance for Abbamaniacs

It's the final weekend for Durbanites to see Abbamaniacs, an uproarious musical comedy featuring pop hits by the legendary Swedish super group, with Aaron McIlroy as an obsessive Abba fanatic who hijacks East Coast Radio's airwaves to flood listeners' homes with an ongoing string of his idols' hit songs.

The Imperial Russian Ballet Company returns to South Africa with a sensational programme that includes Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and Walpurgis Night, the one-act ballet from the opera Faust by Charles Gounod, and they will be starting their nationwide tour in Bloemfontein this weekend.

On the big screen, Goethe is a charming and delightful romance that takes us into the heart and soul of the young and tumultuous Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who aspires to be a poet; sworn enemies, Boetie (Leon Schuster) and Beast (Kenneth Nkosi) are forced to do a road trip together on foot, they have no idea that they will be on camera every step of the way as they embark on a hilarious journey, where the whole of SA is on the joke, except for them in Mad Buddies; and in a world increasingly connected by Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and iTunes, a group of teenage girls navigate the peer pressures of high school romance and friendship in LOL, while at the same time dodging their sometimes overbearing and technologically bewildered parents.

One of the best action films in years

There are some great DVD releases that will keep you warm this weekend. The pleasant and perky romantic romp Semi Soet is filled with humour and adorable characters. It delivers what it promises and has terrific chemistry between disagreeable adversaries whose encounter sparks potential romance. Fans of this stalwart sci-fi classic will delight in this magnificent prequel of The Thing that illuminates the frightening origins of a gruesome creature from hell that feeds off unknown terror. A Beginner's Guide To Endings is one of the zaniest and must-see releases of the year and is a comedy about a family with a few fatal flaws. Ratatouille director Brad Bird shifts into top gear from mice to men with the breathtaking and well-crafted Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, undoubtedly one of the best action films in years.

Writer-and director Sam Levison's sensational drama Another Happy Day depicts a family weekend fraught with emotional landmines, verbal grenades and emotional upheaval, as well as some hilarious incidents, and the spectacle, scale and splendour of War Horse overwhelms, perfectly balanced by intimate, humorous moments.

For more information on these events, shows, films and DVDs, go to www.writingstudio.co.za