Meet friends and neighbours Julia and Caryn, who are typical 1950s mothers and wives. While Julia is the quintessential housewife, Caryn is the complete opposite yet both have something in common, they are bored. Then one evening after slightly too many drinks they make a scandalous decision to swap husbands for a night without their husbands’ consent. All goes fabulously well until it goes farcically wrong which leads to somewhat hilarious consequences.
While Without a Hitch may be Richards’ debut as a playwright on stage, her love for comedy and her theatrical experience has given her the ability to produce a play which is all at once engaging, funny and poignant.
Jessica has had a hand in directing the likes of educational theatre programme Hooked On Books to performing in Wizard of Oz and The Pied Piper at the National Children’s Theatre, to name some. She was most recently seen in Myth of Andrew and Jo at the Con Cowan Theatre in the Reading Gay Festival in the UK, in 2011. Her up and coming career as a playwright may be at the beginning of its trajectory to stardom but she has already paid her dues in the industry as a stage manager, director, voice-over artist, script writer and tap dancer. Without a Hitch will propel her to the next level.
With Mr. Cronje in the director’s chair, audiences can expect a perfectly timed piece of comedy. He is one of South Africa’s most beloved stars with a career spanning 41 years. His performances have been diverse and range from classical roles to comedy, farce and drama. He became a household name in 1976 with the highly successful television series Willem. Since then his award-winning career has encompassed stage, film and television. For many years he worked for Pieter Toerien, and counts the long-running musical Nunsense, which he directed for Toerien, as one of the highlights of his career. Tobie also plays piano and scored a major success with Two Pianos, Four Hands. Nowadays, he directs and produces and can still be seen playing the villians and grand dames in Janice Honeyman’s popular pantomimes.
The sterling Without a Hitch cast will inject life and humour into the characters. While Jessica will be playing the part of Julia, Dianne Simpson takes on the role as her friend Caryn. Dianne has appeared in a number of well-known musicals the likes of The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and a Spoof Full of Sugar, as well as performed in other theatre genres including comedy. She has also made quite a name for herself on the small screen in shows such as Generations, Rhythm City, Egoli, Noah’s Ark and The Wild. She has done numerous voice-overs for TV and radio. Two of her biggest career highlights was when she provided her voice to the movie Racing Stripes (for Warner Brothers) and was the voice of Lillian in the SA 3D Animated Movie Jock. Her one-woman show Rose Red has toured throughout various Joburg venues since 2010, as well as having runs at the Grahamstown Festival, the Kalk Bay Theatre in Cape Town and the Sandton Theatre on the Square. Most recently she completed writing her first feature film which is in its first stages of production. She will also soon be seen in the SABC 3 Sitcom Heaven Can Wait, airing in March 2013.
The male counterparts are played by talented actors Damon Berry and Gordon van der Spuy. Berry, who plays Dave, is well-known for his versatility as an actor, writer and director and has a career worth bragging about. His acting credits include the feature films Black Butterflies, Starship Troopers Maurauder and Zenon, while his television work is just as impressive with shows the likes of Fallen, History of America and the BBC mini-series To the Ends of the Earth, to name some highlights. He also performed a lead role in the short comedy film SA/X, which won the Toronto Best Student Film award in 2005. His stage work includes Nothing Funny, The Glass Menagerie, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Amadeus and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He has contributed to the voice-over scene for radio, TV and corporate presentations. However, the voice he is most fond of is his lovable muppet character Neno in the award-winning educational television series Takalani Sesame, which he performs in nine languages.
Van der Spuy, who plays Mark, also brings diversity to the industry as an actor, director and voice artist. He has appeared in numerous television shows and theatre productions. He has acted in numerous television series such as Soul Buddy’z 2, Backstage, Generations, Zero Tolerance, Mtunzini.com, Binnelanders and Huis van Liefde. Currently, a large part of his career encompasses corporate and industrial theatre, where he participates in the roles of both actor and director. He also works as a director for a production facility called Mindset, the company’s main aim being to take educational programming to townships via clinics where patients can view educational videos whilst waiting to be attended to by medical staff. Van der Spuy enjoys the industrial and corporate environments because he thrives on performing for audiences who rarely, if ever, get to see any theatre.
With Tobie’s guidance, this talented all-star cast brings the fabulous and funny Without a Hitch to rambunctious life, ultimately offering hilarity on a platter.
Tickets cost R150 with special discounts for club members and pensioners. Book at Computicket or at Montecasino Theatre box office. Performance times are: Wednesday to Saturday 20h15 with a 17h15 show every Saturday and a 15h15 show every Sunday.
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