By BRUCE DENNILL Blade Runner 2049 / Directed by Denis Villeneuve / 16LNV Ghost In The Shell / Directed by Rupert Sanders / PGV The Dark Tower / Directed by Nikolaj Arcel / 13VH The 5th Wave / Directed…
By ROB HOFMEYR The President’s Keepers by Jacques Pauw (Tafelberg) When Jacob Zuma was elevated to president-in-waiting, a columnist consoled readers by opining that Zuma’s “minders” would keep him under control. What we have instead is a president…
By BRUCE DENNILL Love Sex Fleas God / Directed by Celia Musikanth / POPArt Theatre, Maboneng, Johannesburg A one-man play based on author Bruce Clark’s memoir of the same name, Love Sex Fleas God tells the tale of…
By BRUCE DENNILL & DRIES BRUNT Jesus’ Miracles, illustrated by Daniel Fernandez 6.5 Fighting Isis by Tim Locks …
By BRUCE DENNILL Snow White: The Ballet / Joburg Ballet / Artistic Director: Iain Macdonald / The Mandela, Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg Joburg Ballet’s latest production is an original one. Though the story of Snow White (originally a…
By BRUCE DENNILL Couplet / Directed by Steven Feinstein / Theatre On The Square, Sandton, Johannesburg The name of this complex new play refers to just one of the mechanisms used in its creation – the use of…
By BRUCE DENNILL Jervis Pennington: An Extraordinarily Ordinary Life / Studio, Pieter Torien’s Montecasino Theatre, Fourways, Johannesburg A clean-cut pop star in his twenties, Jervis Pennington is now in his early sixties and steps onto stage looking like…
By BRUCE DENNILL The Old Man And The Sea / Directed by Jenine Collocott / Auto & General Theatre On The Square, Sandton, Johannesburg Contagious Theatre is a pocket-sized theatre company – just three members, but oh, what…
By BRUCE DENNILL Ashton Nyte: Some Kind Of Satellite 7 Slipknot: .5: The Gray Chapter …
By BRUCE DENNILL RedFest 2017: Helen Of Troyeville & Kate Normington – Live At Parlour Songs / Directed by Lesedi Job & Rowan Bakker (respectively) / Redhill School, Johannesburg The RedFest arts festival is now in its second…
By BRUCE DENNILL King Kong / Directed by Jonathan Munby / Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg The phrase “long-awaited” is generally over-used in publicity bilge in a pointless attempt, perhaps, to convince readers that their lives have been oddly…
By BRUCE DENNILL Justice League: Cosmic Clash (PG) 7.5 Open Season: Scared Silly (A) …
By BRUCE DENNILL Forgotten Heritage by Matthew Emmett 5.5 Abandoned Asylums by Matt Van der Velde 6.5 After The Final Curtain by Matt Lambros …
By BRUCE DENNILL Freud’s Last Session / Directed by Alan Swerdlow / Auto & General Theatre On The Square, Sandton, Johannesburg It’s fantastic to see a piece of theatre that is unashamedly intellectual, focusing for almost its entire…
By BRUCE DENNILL Mamushka by Olia Hercules …
By BRUCE DENNILL Calling Me Home / Directed by Magdalene Minnaar / Mandela, Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg Large budget, large scale, large vision … and large risk. Calling Me Home is a new, original South African musical, joining…
By BRUCE DENNILL Green Day: Revolutionary Radio 6 Rocketeers: Something Else …
By BRUCE DENNILL In Her Shoes / Directed by Luyanda Sidiya / John Kani Theatre, Market Theatre, Newtown, Johannesburg It’s an awful indictment of society in general and South African society in particular that it comes as no…
By BRUCE DENNILL The Jesus Storybook Bible Vol. 1-4 (A) 7 Ghostbusters:…
By BRUCE DENNILL Mamba Republic / Directed by Dr Mervyn McMurtry / Auto & General Theatre On The Square, Sandton, Johannesburg John van de Ruit and Ben Voss have been busy since creating a platform for themselves with…
By BEN WRIGHT I promise that if you keep reading, we’ll get to Let Me Be Frank, an amazing new documentary that exposes the American Religious Right as fraudulent and cynical. But first, indulge me in a preface. In…
By BRUCE DENNILL Midnight Oil / The Great Circle 2017 World Tour / Marks Park, Emmarentia, Johannesburg Australian rock band Midnight Oil started out in 1972 and took 15 years to become overnight sensations with worldwide hit Beds…
By BRUCE DENNILL My Name Is Asher Lev / Directed by Moira Blumenthal / Studio, Pieter Torien’s Montecasino Theatre, Fourways, Johannesburg Examining the importance of art in the context of a play, in a theatre (as opposed to…
By BRUCE DENNILL Big City, Big Dreams / Directed by Fiona Ramsay / Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg There’s a school of thought that says too much classical ballet can be a touch too conservative and clichéd. And there’s…
By ROB HOFMEYR & DRIES BRUNT Double Echo by Francois Bloemhof 6 I Ran For My Life by Kabelo Mabalane …
By BRUCE DENNILL Dangled / Starring Rob Van Vuuren / POPArt, Maboneng, Johannesburg People will say; have said; that this is a tough play. And thematically, it is – it’s based on a story called Diary Of A…
By STEFAN VOS I initially toyed with the idea of doing this review as a sip-by-sip commentary, the enjoyment of a bottle of Scotch whisky (sticklers note: no ‘e’) in real time. As I envisioned how this would play…
By BRUCE DENNILL, ROB HOFMEYR, DRIES BRUNT The Shark In The Dark by Peter Bently and Ben Cort / Marcello Mouse And The Masked Ball by Julie Monks / Monsters: An Owner’s Guide by Jonathan Emmett & Mark Oliver / A Squash…
By RELIC BLEDNUN The Mystery Of Irma Vep / Directed by Elizma Badenhorst / Pieter Torien’s Montecasino Theatre, Fourways, Johannesburg The Mystery Of Irma Vep is, by design, a ridiculous piece of theatre. It’s written for two actors…
By BRUCE DENNILL Puss In Boots / Directed by Steven Stead / Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City, Johannesburg For Johannesburg audiences, the pantomime has long been a once-a-year festive season family treat at the Joburg Theatre (and this…
By BRUCE DENNILL Alexandra May & The Mayze / Rumours Rock City, Blackheath, Johannesburg Johannesburg singer-songwriter Alexandra May has already experienced a good deal of success as a label-supported pop star charting with her first two singles Amazing…
By BRUCE DENNILL The Inconvenience Of Wings / Directed by Lara Foot / Mannie Manim, Market Theatre, Newtown, Johannesburg This play starts with a stage filled with three broken people and ends, a devastating hour-and-a-half later, with those…
By BRUCE DENNILL The Devil & Billy Markham / Directed by Jenine Collocott / POPArt, Maboneng, Johannesburg Being privy to the development process of a new production (even if unofficially so) is a revealing, exciting and sometimes amusing…
By DRIES BRUNT & ROB HOFMEYR World In Conflict by John Andrews 9 Reset by…
By BRUCE DENNILL Digital Cocaine (PG) …
By BRUCE DENNILL Betrayal / Directed by Greg Homann / Auto & General Theatre On The Square, Sandton, Johannesburg In response to the stilted dialogue of the first scene of this play about infidelity, lies, ego and self-absorbtion,…
By BRUCE DENNILL “Tells” – in the poker sense – is an interesting word to use as a title for an artist whose utterances are often misunderstood or wilfully misconstrued. And what’s even more curious is that much of…
By ROB HOFMEYR How To Survive A Shipwreck by Jonathan Martin 9 Chase The Lion by Mark Batterson …
By BRUCE DENNILL This is the album Twin Atlantic made once they felt they’d achieved everything they set out to do when they formed the band. That they have the mettle to do that now, when they’re a big…
By BRUCE DENNILL Terminator: Genisys / Directed by Alan Taylor / PG13 5…
By BRUCE DENNILL, ROB HOFMEYR & DRIES BRUNT Power Play by Mike Nicol 6.5 Isis: The Heart Of Terror by Eugene Bach 7…
By BRUCE DENNILL In Bocca Al Lupo / Directed by Jane Taylor / Ramalao Makhene Theatre, Newtown, Johannesburg Jemma Kahn has created a fantastical one-woman niche as the leading (and perhaps only) exponent of kamishibai – a Japanese…
By BRUCE DENNILL In The Heights / Directed by Danielle Bentel & Stefania Du Toit / Hyde Park High School, Johannesburg Many school productions are chosen with at least one eye on the complexity of the piece being…
By BRUCE DENNILL Mark Nevin: My Unfashionable Opinion Mark Nevin is probably still best known as the songwriter behind Perfect, the biggest hit from influential folk band Fairground Attraction, of which he was a founding member. That song,…
By BRUCE DENNILL Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert: The Musical / Directed by Simon Phillips / The Teatro, Montecasino, Fourways, Johannesburg Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert remains a very different kettle of queens to most stage musicals. As…
By BRUCE DENNILL Various Artists: It Must Have Been Love – An Essential Love Collection Various Artists: Stand By Me – Classic Soul Various Artists: Give Me The Night – Essential R&B Various Artists: Listen To The Music –…
By ROB HOFMEYR & DRIES BRUNT Little Suns by Zakes Mda 8 The Battle For Cosatu by Patrick Craven …
By BRUCE DENNILL Leo Sayer Live In Concert / Teatro at Montecasino, Fourways, Johannesburg English (now resident in Australia) singer-songwriter Leo Sayer has had a long association with South Africa, having been visiting the country since his Seventies…
By BRUCE DENNILL Grace Of Monaco / Directed by Olivier Dahan / PG12 4 Child 44 / Directed by Daniel Espinosa / 16V …
By BRUCE DENNILL The Play That Goes Wrong / Directed by Alan Committie / Pieter Torien’s Montecasino Theatre, Fourways, Johannesburg Created by a couple of then low-key thespians only too familiar with how much could go pear-shaped during…
By BRUCE DENNILL La Traviata / Joburg Ballet / Artistic Director: Iain Macdonald / Joburg Theatre La Traviata is another heart-breaking story translated into movement – the choreography may be elegant, but the emotional interactions are anything but…
By DRIES BRUNT & ROB HOFMEYR Under Devil’s Peak by Gavin Cooper 9 Verander Jou Kop by Stephan Joubert 4 Verwoerd by Henry Kenney …
By BRUCE DENNILL The Award-Winning Podcast / Starring Warren Robertson and guests / Rim & Rubber, Greenside, Johannesburg Professional comics don’t have much scope in terms of the way they can present their wit and delivery. Outside of…
By BRUCE DENNILL El Blanco: Tales Of The Mariachi / Starring James Cairns / Auto & General Theatre On The Square, Sandton, Johannesburg There’s an art to making a one-man show really fly. If it is a pure…
By BRUCE DENNILL The Script: No Sound Without Silence …
By BRUCE DENNILL Rock On The Lawns featuring The Pixies / Carnival City, Johannesburg Another weekend, another music festival? South Africa has an ever-growing roster of such events – indeed, the Johannesburg leg of Rock On The Lawns…
By ROB HOFMEYR & BRUCE DENNILL The Sword and the Pen by Allister Sparks 8 Stories Gogo Told Me…
By BRUCE DENNILL Fury / Directed by David Ayer / 16LV 8 American Sniper / Directed by Clint…
By BRUCE DENNILL Steven Curtis Chapman: Worship And Believe 7 Eric Clapton &…
By BRUCE DENNILL Live Jukebox / Directed by Kristy Suttner / The Fringe, Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg Interactive theatre shows are not as common as they once were, with even the likes of the Joburg Follies being distant…
By BRUCE DENNILL From Koe’siestes To Kneidlach / Directed by Megan Furniss / Auto & General Theatre On The Square, Sandton, Johannesburg Writer-actress Chantel Stanfield tells the true story, on a plain stage with just a trio of…
By BRUCE DENNILL Maps To The Stars / Directed by David Cronenberg (18LNSV) 2 Mississippi Grind / Directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden (13DL) …
By BRUCE DENNILL & DRIES BRUNT Dylan Lewis: An Untamed Force by Ian McCallum and Gerda Genis 7 My First Atlas by Wendy Maartens and Zunica Joao …
By BRUCE DENNILL Workers’ Chant / Choreographed by Nhlanhla Mahlangu / Workers’ Museum, Newtown, Johannesburg A work examining, through dance, the harshness of the lives of the migrant workers who worked – under terrible conditions – in the…
By BRUCE DENNILL Book Marks / Directed by Allan Kolski Horwitz / AFDA Red Roof Theatre, Milpark, Johannesburg This intimate four-character play is billed as a tragi-comedy, but as it weaves its convoluted way to its conclusion, it…
By BRUCE DENNILL Blue Man Group / Directed by Marcus Miller / Teatro, Montecasino, Fourways, Johannesburg There’s that old line: “If a tree fell in a forest and killed a mime, would anybody care?”, which is funny because the…
By PETER ALKEMA Family Concert: Pieter and the Horrible Hyena / Conducted by Richard Cock / Linder Auditorium, Parktown, Johannesburg The penultimate concert of this year’s Johannesburg International Mozart Festival was a folksy, Sunday morning delight for the…
By BRUCE DENNILL Joanna MacGregor / Johannesburg Musical Society / Linder Auditorium, Parktown, Johannesburg As part of the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival, this concert provided a platform for virtuoso pianist Joanna MacGregor – Head of Piano at the…
By BRUCE DENNILL West Side Story / Directed by Matthew Wild / Mandela, Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg There’s a good deal of nostalgia involved in watching West Side Story. It’s unavoidable. It’s a 60-year-old stage musical based on…
By BRUCE DENNILL La La Land / Directed by Damien Chazelle / PG13 La La Land. There’s a clue in the name – this is a fairy tale, not to be taken seriously. It’s incredibly simplistic because it’s…
By BRUCE DENNILL Bryan Adams: Tracks Of My Years 7 The Motherland: This Is Our Home 6 David Gray: Mutineers …
By ROB HOFMEYR & DRIES BRUNT Behold The Man by Brodie and Brock Thoene 7 Permanent Removal by Alan S Cowell …
By BRUCE DENNILL Viennese New Year’s Concert / Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, conducted by Richard Cock / Linder Auditorium, Johannesburg Now an annual fixture on Johannesburg’s classical music scene, the Viennese New Year’s Concert, timed for three weeks into…
BY BRUCE DENNILL When Swallows Cry / Directed by Lesedi Job / Laager Theatre, Market Theatre, Newtown, Johannesburg Migration is perhaps the international political buzzword (buzz-kill?) of the moment, though its nuances are generally hammered into oblivion by…
BY BRUCE DENNILL The House Of Truth / Directed by Vanessa Cooke / Barney Simon Theatre, Market Theatre, Newtown, Johannesburg The Market Theatre hosted a play, Crepuscule, about Drum magazine journalist and short story writer Can Themba, in…
BY BRUCE DENNILL Blonde Poison / Directed by Janna Ramos-Violante / Auto & General Theatre On The Square, Sandton, Johannesburg This moving one-hander by Gail Louw stars Fiona Ramsay as Stella Goldschlag, a septuagenarian German Jew who, while…
BY KATE DENNILL Old Fashioned by Rene Gutteridge 5 The Love Letters by Beverly Lewis …
BY BRUCE DENNILL Andrea Bocelli: Opera – The Ultimate Collection 6 Seether: Isolate And Medicate …
By BRUCE DENNILL Big School / 16DL …
By ROB HOFMEYR, BRUCE DENNILL & KATE DENNILL I Am Radar by Reif Larsen …
By ROB HOFMEYR & DRIES BRUNT The Magistrate of Gower by Claire Robertson 8 The Third Target by Joel C Rosenberg 6 The First Hostage by Joel C Rosenberg …
By BRUCE DENNILL Sherlock Holmes And The Curse Of The Queen’s Diamond / Directed by Alan Swerdlow / Studio Theatre, Pieter Torien’s Montecasino Theatre, Fourways, Johannesburg Some folks may feel a tad Sherlock Holmesed out. Between Robert Downey…
By BRUCE DENNILL Michelle Williams: Journey To Freedom …
By BRUCE DENNILL Tigerman by Nick Harkaway In an age and a culture where superheroes are larger-than-life – often literally – figures with support teams and origin stories to match, something as intimate as this tale, which is…
By BRUCE DENNILL Cirque Éloize: ID / Directed by Jeannot Painchaud / Teatro, Montecasino, Fourways, vrc Johannesburg Montreal’s Cirque Éloize is all about energy, movement and reaction to rhythm, and for ID, all of these facets are concentrated…
By BRUCE DENNILL Pay Back The Curry / Directed by Rob Van Vuuren / Theatre On The Square, Sandton, Johannesburg Satirical revues, especially those that deal in the clichés of whatever agenda is currently being pushed in newscasts,…
By BRUCE DENNILL Queen: Live At The Rainbow ’74 / A 6 Jersey Boys / 16L …
By BRUCE DENNILL One More Night – The Ultimate Phil Collins Tribute Show / Produced by Add-Life Productions / Theatre Of Marcellus, Emperors Palace, Johannesburg There is an element of bad luck to the way this production has…
By BRUCE DENNILL Cherry Pill: Si Tu Savais Virtuosic duo Cherry Pill (Kristel Birkholtz, violin, and Rory Gaddin, guitar) released a well-received collection of original material not too long ago, featuring Birkholtz’s gentle vocals. Si Tu Savais is…
By BRUCE DENNILL & DRIES BRUNT The 5 Love Languages Of Your Family by Gary Chapman 6 Stoffel: Die Beste Stories by Christiaan Bakkes …
By BRUCE DENNILL Big Wreck: Albatross This is not their latest album, but as the world outside of their native Canada continues to wake up to the sonic power of Toronto’s Big Wreck, this collection remains the most…
By BRUCE DENNILL Tribute To Margaret Mcingana / Produced by Stunkie Vundla / John Kani Theatre, Market Theatre, Newtown, Johannesburg On a night when freak flash-floods wiped out scores of cars on Johannesburg’s highways, there was still only…
By BRUCE DENNILL Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood / Directed by Janice Honeyman / Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg Search “pantomime” on this blog and you’ll find some banter about how – to paraphrase – it’s…
By BRUCE DENNILL That Sugar Film / PG 7.5 African Safari / PG …
By BRUCE DENNILL Train: Bulletproof Picasso 6.5 Lady Antebellum: 747 6 Hozier:…
By BRUCE DENNILL Annie / Directed by Nick Winston / Teatro, Montecasino, Fourways, Johannesburg An enduring favourite can also, quite easily, become a cliché, and with the better-known songs from Annie – Tomorrow and Hard Knock Life in particular…
By BRUCE DENNILL Nerve / Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman / PG13 As filmmakers try to keep pace with the constantly changing face of technology and the way teenagers – one of their most important markets…
By BRUCE DENNILL The Dotted Line Showcase / Directed by Neka Da Costa / Redhill Theatre, Morningside, Johannesburg Great stories work in any format because they deal in themes that remain current whenever and in whatever context they…
By BRUCE DENNILL Acceptance / Directed by Simona Mazza / The Fringe, Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg The subject matter that inspired this original work is heartbreaking, macabre and troublingly revealing. It takes as it’s core theme the 2014…
By BRUCE DENNILL Nurse / Directed by Doug Aarniokoski / 18LNDSVH 1 Inherent Vice / Directed by Paul…
By BRUCE DENNILL I Am They: I Am They A Nevada sextet armed with multiple acoustic guitars and delicately harmonised vocals, I Am They feature, in every song on this debut collection, one component that Christian music should…
By BRUCE DENNILL Henry Rollins 2016 SA Tour / Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City, Johannesburg As multiple attendees will now know, Henry Rollins’ introduction to his latest spoken word monologue – all two-and-a-half hours of it – is…
By BRUCE DENNILL Joburg Ballet’s Cinderella / Artistic direction by Iain MacDonald / Joburg Theatre Joburg Ballet has had a very busy – and successful – year, bouncing back from a difficult political situation, adding an extra season…
By BRUCE DENNILL & DRIES BRUNT The Innocent Killer by Michael Griesbach …
By BRUCE DENNILL Saturday Night Fever / Directed by Greg Homann / Opera, South African State Theatre, Pretoria As the beginning of a run of shows that will, it is hoped, play an important role in…
By BRUCE DENNILL In Secret / Directed by Charlie Stratton / 16SV 7.5 Breathe In / Directed by Drake Doremus / 13L …
By BRUCE DENNILL Angus & Julia Stone: Angus & Julia Stone 6.5 Neville D: Beauty Of Difference 6 Lincoln Brewster:…
By BRUCE DENNILL Savanna Comics’ Choice Awards 2016 / Directed by Rob Van Vuuren / Teatro, Fourways, Johannesburg This showcase for South African (and soon to be African, according to a recent announcement) comedy, has, in six years,…
By BRUCE DENNILL Mannequin / Directed by Nataniel / Theatre of Marcellus, Emperors Palace, Johannesburg Mannequin, like most of Nataniel’s output, is difficult to classify. Broadly speaking, it combines his skills as a stand-and-deliver spoken-word raconteur and as…
By BRUCE DENNILL Impact No. 1 / Tshwane Dance Theatre, Cape Dance Company and Moving Into Dance Mophatong / Joburg Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg When it is possible to see a full-scale contemporary dance programme on one of South…
By BRUCE DENNILL Pests / Directed by Fiona Ramsay / POPArt Centre, Maboneng, Johannesburg Watching Pests, it’s difficult to understand what would make the story appeal to playwright Vivienne Franzmann. A tale of two sisters, young women who…
By BRUCE DENNILL Emmarentia Live / Bad Peter, Gangs Of Ballet, Freshlyground, Mango Groove, Mi Casa, Goodluck / Emmarentia Dam, Johannesburg Festivals are a wonderful thing – collected talent, back to back, channelling inspiration for a bunch of…
