Fiona Coyne play set for Milnerton Playhouse
Carolyn Venter as Leila and Gillian Vosloo as Jean in the play Careful. PICTURE: Jane Amory
Milnerton Players will stage the two-hander Careful by the late Fiona Coyne from Friday July 15 to Saturday July 30 at the Milnerton Playhouse.
Best known as the South African presenter of the television reality series, The Weakest Link, Coyne also authored the box office success, Glassroots.
The late Professor Roy Sargeant, on behalf of the Artscape New Writing Programme, begged Coyne to write this play for the then doyenne of the SA theatre, Diane Wilson, who consequently won the Best Actress award playing Jean at the 2009 Dublin Play Festival. Coyne was nominated for Best Playwright.
Careful is an evocative and thought provoking production with well-drawn female characters. An accomplished South African actress, Jean (Gillian Vosloo), admired for her faultless performances covering the classical and Shakespearian repertoires is now facing her biggest and most daunting challenge. Her career is fading fast, work has been sparse and her success depends on the portrayal of a lesbian character. She persuades the only gay woman she knows, Leila, a theatre critic, (Carolyn Venter) to guide her with mannerisms and attitude to portray this character in this new play, which by any standards seems to be of an inferior quality.
As they meet one rainy evening Jean is rehearsing on the empty stage of a theatre, prior to the commencement of the actual rehearsals. The meeting becomes an epic exchange of insults and accusations as the actress and the critic struggle to find common ground and in the process, face their own individual demons.
Experienced performer Gillian Vosloo makes a welcome return to the Playhouse stage after an absence of some years in the role of Jean, the actress. Canadian drama graduate Carolyn Venter, now back in South Africa, plays the journalist, Leila.
The rights to perform this production have been made possible by the special permission of the Coyne family.
Evening performances are at 8pm and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm.
Visit www.milnertonplayers.co.za/bookings/ to book.