ARTicles vol. 6 i.3a: Welcome

Dear Friends,

This issue of ARTicles introduces you to two productions with a strong international flavor: Julius Caesar, staged by the celebrated French director Arthur Nauzyciel, and the return of the unforgettable South African satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys with his latest comic skewering of political corruption and social mayhem, Elections & Erections: A Chronicle of Fear & Fun.

Paradoxically, while Julius Caesar is one of the most often studied and quoted of Shakespeare’s plays, it is rarely performed. We remember it for its great set pieces – Caesar’s assassination on the steps of the Capitol, Mark Antony’s funeral orations – but there are many other glories in this mysterious and complex story that I look forward to rediscovering with you in Arthur’s production.

The play follows a group of idealists and revolutionaries, hoping to change the world they live in, and improvising wildly as their plans unravel. But as Arthur reminds us in an interview, Shakespeare’s Rome is as much a dreamscape as it is a political arena, its streets and battlefields full of dreams, ghosts, and echoes of past and future worlds. It should resonate powerfully as we navigate through the next election cycle.

Arthur and his design team are creating a vast and imaginative production, touched with the sounds and images of the 1960s and accompanied by a live jazz trio. It promises to be an unforgettable evening in the theatre.

Pieter-Dirk Uys needs no introduction to those of you who saw him in Foreign Aids, the sold-out hit of our 2005 South African Festival. One of the world’s great political cabaret performers, Pieter is now returning to the A.R.T. with a new show, tailored to the current election season.

As usual, Pieter will be bringing with him a host of special guests, all of whom he performs with uncanny accuracy and deep affection, including Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Mrs. Evita Bezuidenhout (the self-styled “most famous white woman in South Africa”).

Pieter combines a deep humanity with an astounding ability to make us laugh at political outrage and stupidity. After a year’s delay, it will be a great pleasure to welcome him back to Zero Arrow Theatre — the theatre that he, or rather Evita, opened and inaugurated three years ago.

Gideon Lester
Acting Artistic Director