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De Wet’s Dream

“Fast-paced and exhilarating… Under the creative nurturing of the directors James Cuningham and Helen Iskander, the short, light-hearted piece evolved into a performance of substance.
The play’s genius lies in its setting… The actors' routine is slick and the multiplicity of characters is deliciously entertaining. The talents of Rous and Reddy are largely a result of how they tune in to one another on a mental and physical level. They manage to balance their off-the-wall humor with deeper, understated emotion. Subtlety is where most South African comedy doesn't quite get it right, but De Wet's Dream achieves the delicate interplay between having popular appeal without selling out.”
Kate Stegman, The Sunday Independent, September 2005

“Brilliant!”
Cue Review, July 2005

‘Talented duo rise to the challenge’
Wilhelm Snyman
Cape Times
28 March 2006

Physical theatre is a daunting exercise, especially for the creators and often for the audience too…The vastly talented duo of Reddy and Rous rise to the challenge, weaving the stories and characters together for a satisfying end resolution..
De Wets Dream is physical theatre. It is even more demanding in that it is filled with lightening-fast dialogue and created accents, accompanied by acrobatic feats on stage.
Particularly effective is the way the pair re-enact scenes from the various movies they take out from the local, poorly supplied video store. It underscores the desolation and boredom that were, in part, responsible for a notorious crime.
The characters are cleverly drawn and believable, maintaining the discovery of the world from inside out, creating images where none exist, creating the illusion with hand gestures and movements that things are there that are not.
The actors redefine space, and interpret a world of their own creation in a manner requiring extreme concentration for it’s successful execution.
Seeing theatre of this kind is refreshing in that it cannot be overly clogged with clever ideas for their own sake.
This is theatre for its own sake. It takes the raw material of our being and makes something new out of it, unmediated by the presence of excessive cultural clutter.
In the process, we gain a pithy comment on our world, charmingly unpartisan. De Wets Dream provides a delightful detour into the absurdity of the world and human nature, but with warm empathy.

‘Zany improv tale of dreams’
Beverly Brommert
Tonight Theatre 28 March 2006

No set, no props, no costumes; just two ordinary-looking men relying on gestures, and body language to convey a wide range of dramatic experiences. These involve 13 different characters in a variety of situations, with some minimal support from lighting to achieve this unlikely endeavour.
The result is an hour of continuous entertainment as the duo switch roles with bewildering frequency and unflagging vigour.
To help the audience identify which persona is featured in the enactment of the Karoo saga, each character has a distinctive tic – Maggie, for instance, obsessively strokes or chews her hair, and Fred de Wet scratches his neck – which is just as well, since the rapidity with which they come and go could leave less-than-alert spectators more bemused than amused.
Despite the brevity and speed of their characterisation, the personae of the drama have surprisingly sharp definition, from the De Wet brothers’ senile father to Maggie’s objectionable suitor, son of the local bank manager.
This says much for the skill of Rous and Reddy, who convey more than the mere identity of a given character, they get under the skin of each individual portrayed and create a series of cameos, so that by the end of the play we feel we know these peaople personally.
The characters of the story have all the zaniness to be expected in the product of heated imagination, and the vicissitudes of their lives come thick and fast in the chaotic presentation.
The mood is fundamentally cheerful, but there are some poignant moments…
This is mime of high calibre, as admirable as it is entertaining.
Recommended viewing,