Every Beautiful Thing
From the team behind the acclaimed ‘A Girl Called Owl’ comes a story about two sisters. A play about silence and noise. About waiting. About old habits, blood bonds, miracles and spare parts. A play about the strange, powerful moments that carve into memory like water through sand.
Susan is adopted. Katelyn is her younger sister – the miracle baby. Susan is a lawyer, wife and mother. Katelyn just rolled her car down a mountain. In the hospital, pain meds and memory twinkle under fluorescent lights, circling ever closer to the truth.
Every Beautiful Thing will premiered at Alexander Bar in May 2015. It toured to the Platteland Preview Festival in Smithfield in June and the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown in July 2015.
'an intimate story about sisters and what binds them' -Cape Argus - Theresa Smith
'The ties that bind us can be gossamer thin' - Cape Times - Tracy Saunders
DIRECTOR – KHUTJO GREEN
Khutjo Green’s work as an actress and a director focuses on issues of Human Rights and Social Justice. In 2008 she was fortunate to co-ordinate a programme in partnership as the anti-trafficking in person co-ordinator with World Hope SA and the International Office of Migration, both champions in combating the modern-day slave industry. Since then she has raised awareness of human trafficking, speaking at various seminars, schools and organisations.
She took part in a number of plays while studying at Wits, including And The Girls in their Sunday Dresses, directed by Shakira and written by Zakes Mda, The Unswept Room, directed by Eddie Maluleke
, Sunday, directed by Gordan Lindsey,
Soma physical theatre piece, directed by Athena Mazarakis, Just in Time, a physical theatre piece directed by Athena Mazarakis and Spectator directed by Gerard Bester. Iin 2013 Khutjo won the NALEDI Award for best actress in a Lead Role for her performance in The Line.
She has also been involved in a number of industrial theatre productions which addressed issues around HIV and Aids.
Khutjo Green completed her Masters at Wits with Drama for Life and now lectures at AFDA Johannesburg.
WRITER – JON KEEVY
Keevy has trouble remembering what sort of bio he should be writing – a writer? A designer? A director? A producer? Like many people hustling in the Cape Town theatre industry he has to be more than one of these at any given time.
As a writer Keevy flounces through different genres, from Children’s theatre to saucy sketch comedy, to solo shows dealing with dark South African themes. Most of these he has produced himself or with the aid of ASSITEJ and/or the Theatre Arts Admin Collective. A Girl Called Owl was invited to the Brighton Fringe Festival, UK in 2013, where it was the 3rd best International Production according to Latest Magazine. In 2014, the show sold out at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Get Kraken! for younger audiences won Jon his first Standard Bank Ovation Award at the NAF and Dirty Words (definitely not for younger audiences) won him his 2nd. He also runs Alexander Upstairs, the tiniest theatre in Cape Town (also, the best).
CAST – BRIONY HORWITZ
Briony’s best work so far is as Olivia, Kay and 8 other characters in A Girl Called Owl (2012-15). She has done some Shakespeare as Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet Unplugged (directed by Anthea Thompson, 2009), 30 characters in The Big ‘O’ (directed by Ashley Dowdes, 2010) and as Lady’s Macbeth and Macduff in Macbeth (directed by Nkosinathi Gaar, 2015). She has also been on screen as Sasha in Scandal! (2013), Zoe in The Wild (2011), Zoe in Karoo (winner of best short film 2011) and Joan in Wounded (feature film recently released on Mzansi).
She has toured South Africa with multiple children’s theatre productions, directed 2 small children’s theatre companies and been production assistant for Hugh Masekela’s management team for the past 5 years. The skills she learnt through these experiences served her well as producer of A Girl Called Owl on tour in South Africa and the UK from 2013 to 2015.
CAST – CARA ROBERTS
Cara came in to this Industry in 2011, starting out with a supporting lead role in the international feature Fynbos, and landing her first leading role in a feature film Durban Poison in 2012. Since then she has made a mark in the South African film industry circuits, and it wasn’t long until she stepped into the world of theatre. Taking part in productions such as The Guards; directed by Josette Eales, Over the Hill; directed by Dominique Gumede, Paradise Lost, directed by Grace Gummer and playing Desdemona in Think Theatres’ Othello; directed by Clare Mortimer. Cara has wanted to perform a Neil Labute for ages, and takes the role of Carly in Alby Michael’s and Neil Clasen’s production of Reasons to be Pretty.
Audience Responses
Wonderful direction and design choices. Loved the performances
It is a very interesting play, well written and relevant. The actresses were great in conveying the content of the play. It is a difficult play to see from an entertainment point of view , as it is quite a heavy theme. It seemed like a good exercise for a university production , but a bit disappointing for an evening out to the theatre.