Since her first appearance in the 1994 best seller, One For The Money, Janet Evanovich's beloved New Jersey girl-turned-bond-recovery agent has solved crimes and nabbed felons over the course of 18 global best sellers, the latest of which, Explosive Eighteen, hit the bookshelves this November. Katherine Heigl brings Stephanie Plum - the popular heroine of Janet Evanovich's worldwide best-selling 18-book mystery series - to vibrant life. Desperate for some fast cash, Stephanie turns to her last resort: convincing her sleazy cousin to give her a job at his bail bonding company as a recovery agent and takes on the biggest bail-jumper: former vice cop and murder suspect Joe Morelli - yup, the same sexy, irresistible Joe Morelli (Jason O'Mara) who seduced and dumped her back in high school.
In the police thriller The Son Of No One, Jonathan (Channing Tatum) is a second-generation cop who gets in over his head when he's assigned to reopen a double homicide cold case in his Queens neighbourhood. This is the third film that Tatum is starring in for punk rocker turned memoirist turned auteur, Dito Montiel, following Fighting and the forthcoming The Brotherhood Of The Rose.
At the Fugard Theatre Bioscope, you can see the Royal Opera House-filmed performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte on 20 May. Jonathan Miller's ever-popular production updates the 18th-century to today - while fashions and technology may have changed since Mozart's time, human behaviour remains as fickle and manipulative as ever.
At the Labia, The Good Film Society is screening the naughty For My Sister on 20 May. An envelope-pushing look at adolescent sexuality, in which two sisters - embroiled in sibling rivalry - come of age during a beach-side vacation. An unflinchingly harsh but powerful look at female adolescence. Viewer discretion is advised.
If you are looking for live entertainment, it's your final chance to see the sensational and not-to-be-missed Janneman and A Streetcar Named Desire (although it is sold out I am sure if you hang around the door at UCT's Arena Luke might sneak you in).
Otherwise you can catch one of the Afrikaans plays at the Klein Libertas Teater or at the Baxter. It's also the opening weekend of Tarrel Alvin McCraney's drama The Brothers Size at the Baxter, with music woven through the story, dealing with the relationship between the two Size brothers, Oshoosi and Ogun, on very different paths, who live in the bayou region of Louisiana. This show follows its phenomenal success at Syracuse Stage in Central New York.
If you're in Joburg, then you can see So You Think You Can Love?, a brilliant and hilarious new comedy on love, dating and the finer nuances of being a stalker at the Montecasino Studio Theatre. Sonia Esgueira portrays a mishmash of desperate characters well past their sell-by dates, who'll stop at nothing to find love and somehow end up finding themselves instead.
And in Durban, the show Twice As Nice features international performers Helene Joseph and Luciano Zuppa performing a collection of familiar duets and solo songs that will take you on a nostalgic journey down memory lane. Hit songs from Broadway, the movies, and the top of the charts, in the different styles of swing, jazz and the Motown era.
If you would like to visit club duvet and are looking for first-rate entertainment that is fun, funny, and filled with tons of adventure and mind-boggling murder mystery, the great DVD series Castle from creator Andrew Marlowe (who also serves as executive producer/writer and delivers a clever script), is a must for fans of The Rockford Files and Moonlighting. Nathan Fillion is superb as a wildly-famous mystery novelist who is bored with his own success until he teams up with the equally brilliant Stana Katic, a hard-headed NYPD detective.
For more information on the these films and shows, go to www.writingstudio.co.za
