Great shows opening this week

Thirty years after PW Botha gave him the title "Adapt or Dye", Pieter-Dirk Uys is once again inspired by a politician in 2012 who said: "Adapt or Fly!" Mrs Evita Bezuidenhout and familiar characters Pik Botha, Nowell Fine, Mrs Petersen, the Groot Krokodil, Madiba and the dancing Prez come to the rescue! In a time of depression, recession, fear and anger, what is better and more healing than a good laugh at the expense of those who depress, recess, frighten and annoy us?

Adapt or Fly is a politically incorrect production that features many controversial prime ministers, presidents and politicians, from Pik Botha and FW de Klerk, to Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma and including political advice for Julius "Juju" Malema (aka Kidi Amin). The show also celebrates Uys' career, which has spanned three decades. In 1981 he started his total onslaught against careless, corrupt and unacceptable politics. Apartheid might officially be dead today, but the careless, corrupt and unacceptable political crooks and clowns are still dancing centre stage.

It is said that when history repeats itself, it can take tragedy and turn it into farce. So banish the blues - come and enjoy the blacks, whites, browns, yellows and "others" that make up this unique country of our dreams. As long as we can laugh at our fear, we are still in charge of our future.

This laugh-a-second satire is on at the Baxter Theatre until 30 June.

Green Man Flashing

Green Man Flashing is a fast-paced political thriller written by Mike van Graan who is associate playwright of Artscape. The production is produced by Artscape and directed by Hennie van Greunen with a stellar cast that includes Fleur du Cap winners Anthea Thompson as Gabby Anderson, Susan Danford as Anna Richards, and Thami Mbongo as Luthando Nyaka. Kanna Award nominee Charlton George plays Inspector Adams and Wiseman Sithole is Aaron Matshoba.

The story takes place six weeks before South Africa's second general election in 1999. Gabby Anderson, a white personal assistant, alleges that she has been raped by her boss, a black, high-profile government minister with an impeccable anti-apartheid struggle record. Sent to persuade her not to go through with the charges is Gabby's former husband, Aaron Matshoba, the ruling party's major troubleshooter, and Luthando Nyaka, the quintessential "bad cop" in the delegation.

Green Man Flashing takes on the challenge of deep moral and political questions for which there are no ready answers in a society that is struggling with notions of morality. In a remarkable instance of life imitating art, the events depicted in the play were to become real-life drama in all the South African news media when Jacob Zuma, then Deputy President of the ANC, was charged with rape.

Green Man Flashing is studied at university drama departments and is a prescribed drama set work for IEB schools. Awards and recognition for the play include Jury Winner at the PANSA/UCT Drama School Festival of Reading of New Writing, 2004; Nominee for Best New Script at the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards, 2006; Nominee for Best New Script at the Naledi Theatre Awards, 2006 and Winner at Theatre in Translation (Argentina-South Africa exchange project), 2011.

Green Man Flashing runs at the Artscape Arena until 23 June.

Face The Music

If you are looking for fun with a capital F, look no further. Face The Music at the Kalk Bay Theatre is a high-voltage, high-entertainment feast combining chart-topping songs and dazzling dance moves with the novel, fun format of a spectacular music game show. A feast always has dessert, and who could ask for anything more: the talented, charismatic trio of Vanessa Harris, Lucy Tops and Leani Ekermans will blow you away you with their powerful harmonies and slick moves, while inviting you to test your music trivia. If the show puts a capital letter into fun, the trio puts the S into sexy; the girls are sassy, savvy and suave - a lethal combination if consumed combined??? with talent. The fun part of the show is in the form of a quiz show, in which you get to play the game as a spectator. Make sure to face the music, you will see much more. With Ash Searle in control of the visuals and sound, you are in for an extra treat.

Curtain Down

It's your final week to see Cinema Serenade at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio. It celebrates the world of the silver screen, through some of the greatest arias, jazz standards and ballads ever written. From A Room With A View to James Bond to Moulin Rouge, Louise Howlett andAlbert Combrink will seamlessly move you across the styles of Puccini, Bizet, Rogers and Hammerstein, Hoagy Carmichael, John Barry and more. This programme has become the trademark of these two multi-talented performers providing something for everyone.

House of Usher at the Little Theatre ends this weekend. It's an exciting music-theatre production by Graham Weir and Christopher Weare. In late 1998 Weir and Weare joined forces to explore Weare's obsession with the lifestyles of rock stars, resulting in the first staging of the production in 2002. The death of Amy Winehouse in July, 2011, adds to the casualty list of the Rock Stars 27 club (those who did not make it to 28) evoking another visit to this intriguing story. House of Usher is concerned with the confrontation between order and chaos, between hope and despair, between love and hate, and between success and failure. Edgar Allen Poe's fantastical gothic story.

The Yeoman Of The Guard

In honour of the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Cape Town Gilbert and Sullivan Society, who brought you the outstanding and lavish productions of My Fair Lady, HMS Pinafore - The Musical, Annie ,and most recently the highly acclaimed production of Fiddler On The Roof, will stage Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeoman Of The Guard - the grandest and most emotionally engaging of the Savoy Operas at the Artscape Theatre from 16 June to 1 July.

Thereafter, the production will transfer to the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, UK during August 2012. Yeomen is the nearest that Gilbert and Sullivan got to achieving something close to "real" opera.

It is a wonderful work with stunning chorus work and beautiful solos and ensembles, all accompanied by a full symphony orchestra. The story line is believable and dramatic with underlying typical Gilbertian comedy mingled with tragedy on this occasion.

Gilbert said that he regarded it as "the best thing we have done" and Sullivan declared that it was his favourite of all their joint works. Its composition was influenced by the wave and patriotism and nostalgia that swept Britain in the wake of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Award-winning director Teddy Davies and musical director Alastair Cockburn, who have been responsible in bringing so many wonderfully successful Savoy Operas to Cape Town audiences, will once again collaborate in this Jubilee production. Cockburn will conduct the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. The beautiful sets and costumes have been designed by Tina Driedijk and Penny Simpson, respectively, with lighting design by Nicholas Tilney and sound design by Liam Cookson.

Read more about these shows at www.writingstudio.co.za/pahe1746.html