What's next up ace director Paul Grootboom's sleeve? The award-winning playwright who reinvented the dynamics of theatre with his cinematic antics mixed with in-your-face scripting in plays like Relativity, Telling Stories and Interracial, has a new show, Cats and Dogs premiering at the National Arts Festival.
And judging by the subject, it continues his tradition of innovation.
Cats and dogs is an "action play" which takes its inspiration from comic books.
"The project was born two years ago. My initial intention was to have mindless action on stage. But then working with community theatre groups I noticed their characters always seemed like they had just come out of a Hollywood comic book. So I decided to merge comic book action with that community theatre style. Think Sin City meets theatre," explains Grootboom.
The story is about a township boy who is drawn into crime and must fight his way out of it. He has a disfigured face and at the centre of his struggle is a love story. So there's a twist within the story where the main character finds redemption in fighting to save the love interest. But the play's action poses a staging challenge given that it will show on the Fringe.
"I had applied for the Main programme, but was unsuccessful. Even in my European travels I tried experimenting on their stages, trying to figure out how to execute the action. The play is raw and very township-like. I'm also updating the script as we go along and it's becoming less about the action than I thought," he says.
The rawness of it all extends to the cast, which is dominated by the State Theatre's developmental actors. "I'm trying to dispel the myth that I work with the same pool of actors. The only professional here is Molefi Monaisa."
Although he seemed preoccupied with the way the play will pan out, Grootboom is not one to back down from a challenge. Whether he can pull it off with Cats and Dogs or not will be revealed at Grahamstown.
See Cats and Dogs at PJ's on July 7, 8, 9 and 11.
Other State Theatre plays going to Grahamstown: Aubrey Sekhabi's Mantolo - The Tenth Step; Zakes Mda's And The Girls in their Sunday Dresses; Matsemela Manaka's Egoli; and Grootboom's Foreplay (premiere).
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