Monika, it’s me will be on at The Drama Factory from from Tuesday July 23 to Thursday July 25, at 7.30pm, with a matinee on Wednesday July 24, at 4pm.
Performed by Klara van Wyk and directed by Jenine Collocott, and nominated for Best Comedy Performance at KKNK 2024, this one-woman show provides a comedic look at the realities of growing old, being alone and the “Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning”.
Meet Maryna. An adept facebook marketplace saleswoman, award-winning dog trainer and now also the unlikely carer of Monika, who is on the verge of swapping the temporal with the eternal.
Monika, a stately, suburban housewife was left behind by her family (who are now expats in New Zealand), and it is just a little too far for them to return to pack up the house.
Jenine Collocott is a theatre director, writer, designer and producer who has worked in the theatre industry for 17 years.
Most of her experience is with ‘All Ages’ work; theatre that is accessible to a wide audience. Her work has played in mainstream theatres in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
She is a regular at a number of festivals across South Africa, and her work has played at festivals in Edinburgh, Perth, Brighton, California (various cities) and Munich.
Her track record for quality ‘All Ages’ theatre includes The Snow Goose, The Old Man and the Sea (winner Fleur du Cap Best Puppetry Design), Making Mandela (Naledi winner for Best Youth Production), Silkworm (Ovation award winner) and a flagship KKNK Production, Babbelagtig, which won a number of awards.
Most recently she worked with a theatre company based in Germany on a new show titled My Family and Other Strangers.
Dr Klara van Wyk is a current postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cape Town currently working in applied theatre. She is a researcher and performer specialising in contemporary clowning and has trained with Philippe Gaulier, Mick Barnfather and Giovanni Fusetti .
Klara is best known for her one person show, You Suck and Other Inescapable Truths that was performed over a hundred times across the country at schools and festivals and nominated for a Fleur du Cap, Kanna award and Standard Bank Ovation award.
She also performed in the award-winning Babbelagtig, Tweespalt and La Chair de Ma Chair that showcased on the main at the National Arts Festival, as well as playing chalk girl in The Epicene Butcher and Other Stories for Consenting Adults.
Tickets cost R170 and R160, and bookings can be made at www.thedramafactory.co.za or contact 073 215 2290.
The venue is at 10 Comprop Sq, Henry Vos Close, Asla Business Park, Strand.
