By BRUCE DENNILL
Marianne Thamm’s Round Of Applause (Reloaded) / Directed by Marianne Thamm / Studio, Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre, Fourways, Johannesburg
Marianne Thamm’s name is familiar to most reasonably well-informed South Africans. As one of the country’s foremost investigative journalists, she’s been involved in everything from Julius Malema’s dustbin to helping unpack the gargantuan trove of emails that were part of the Gupta Leaks and the unravelling of the State Capture disaster. The latter provides the foundational material for this one-woman show, which is part Ted Talk, part stand-up comedy and entirely – to use Thamm’s term, ‘performance journalism’.
The immediate concern for audiences is that a large part of theatre’s role for most people is providing escapism; a space free from the anxiety-inducing headlines and analysis of daily newscasts and other media. And certainly, to get the most out of this performance, intellectual engagement with Thamm’s material is necessary.
But in terms of providing entertainment, Thamm has at least two significant things on her side: peerless knowledge of and insight into her subject matter, and a stand-up comedian’s quick wit and comic timing. She arrives on stage with a flip file, stands next to a pile of worthy tomes that contain all the reams of detail she could never fit into a theatre show (or one that connects and compels, at any rate) and performs the whole show in front of a pull-up poster advertising the Daily Maverick, the influential news site of which she is an associate editor. None of this is glamorous or particularly traditional as stage shows (other than Ted Talks or other more conference-friendly offerings) go, but after an introduction to the format and the idea as Thamm walks onstage, she has the audience rapt and often amused, even when the names of politicians most of us have forgotten about or wouldn’t have recognised in the street are thrown about. That sort of thing remains effective because of Thamm’s credibility as a reporter, earned decades ago and further developed since. If she explains the link between Wotsisname and Thingimajig, you know that is a valid connection, adding to the value of her evaluation of what went on. Similarly, when she first postulates and then explains why South Africans do and should have reason for hope, her words have weight, and you feel your spirit lift as a result.
Thamm is to political hard news what the likes of Stephen Fry are to general knowledge: if, going in, you need convincing that such topics are not the stuff of a satisfying night at the theatre, you certainly won’t remember why on the way out.
