By Liam Jean Pierre
In a world filled with a maelstrom of global tension and socio-economic unpredictability, there is something rebellious about the act of laughter. The Stellenbosch University’s (SU) Drama Department production of Tom, Dick and Harry serves as a blowoff valve in a world of increasing pressure. Our Stellenbosch students remind us through theatre that, even when everything is falling apart, there is joy to be found in the wreckage.
Photo by Liam Jean Pierre
The play follows a married couple, Tom and Linda, stressfully preparing for a meeting with an agent from the adoption agency. However, Tom’s well-intentioned brothers, Dick and Harry, come up with increasingly chaotic hijinks to try and help Tom, much to his chagrin. Set in London, the play is written by the father-son duo Ray and Michael Cooney, well known for their fast-paced farces.
True to the genre, this farce uses a heightened world, a fast-paced plot, and absurd situations to spin Tom and Linda’s stressful day into comedic chaos. This two-act play takes place on a ridiculous day featuring nosey police, a drunk elderly refugee, dismembered cadavers, and brotherly love.
Tom’s character, played by Matthew Gray, a BA Honours student in Voice and Speech, delivered a wonderful performance at an impressive pace. Gray was able to showcase the quiet anger held together before the last stitches of an upstanding citizen are torn. On the other more mischievous hand, the younger brothers, Dick and Harry, are played by Aidan Davies and Torden van Rensburg, respectively, who are also BA Honours students in Voice and Speech.
Both brothers brought a constant influx of pandemonium to the stage with their increasingly absurd schemes in an attempt to “help”. When asked how they were able to build their onstage chemistry, Van Rensburg said, “For this role specifically the three of us took a trip up to George. We spent two nights together. We would just sit around learning lines with each other and just being really creative with it.” Gray, Davies, and Van Rensburg studied their undergraduates together which contributed to the brotherly love displayed onstage.
The technical stagecraft was equally sharp. An ever-present clock shifted accurately, relaying the in-story time, and shared the characters’ anxiousness with the audience. A lively self-operating couch with great comedic timing complemented the actors and had audience members asking how they did that. The student cast punched well above their class, delivering a performance that felt thoroughly professional and kept the audience gasping and laughing in equal measure.
While slapstick humor may not be everyone’s preferred genre, it is difficult not to be impressed by the rapid execution and timing on display. Mackenzie Lyle, a third-year BA (Drama and Theatre Studies) student, playing Constable Downs, said a key learning experience was “building and getting used to that stamina”.
Acting through all the chaos is a feat of endurance and this is evident in the handling of the Albanian spoken dialogue. “Learning how to speak and convincingly speak with meaning behind it. Remembering what to say in Albanian, while knowing what I am saying in English in my own mind,” said Maia Crockett, a third-year BA (Drama and Theatre Studies) student, explaining her difficulty with the foreign language while playing Katerina.
Even the choice to maintain British accents, a risky move for a local production, was performed with consistency. The show possessed such brilliant, live-wire chaos that even if a genuine mistake had occurred, it would have felt like a part of the act. The momentum never faltered and the comedy never missed a beat.
Ultimately, this production is a triumph. It’s a riotous escape during a stressful season for students soon to be facing exams. That night, 9 May, the audience, rightfully, awarded the production a standing ovation.
