Coupé

Coupé is a comedy workshopped by the company of the premiere production, staged at the National Arts Festival in 2006.

Subject

Three strangers board a long-distance train in South Africa and discover they are all booked into the same Second Class three-sleeper coupé. They are the English-speaking South African Duane Buckman, the overweight Afrikaans-speaking South African Francois le Grange and the French-speaking (unilingual) Felicité Strasbourg.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

2006: Staged by the Fortune Cookie Theatre Company at the Grahamstown Festival, directed by Sue Pam-Grant, with Sylvaine Strike (Felicité Strasbourg), Gerard Bester (Duane Buckman), Brian Webber (Francois le Grange), Toni Morkel (The Conductor). The production was then moved to the Wits Theatre Complex for the 969 Festival in Johannesburg. It was awarded the Naledi Awards for: Best Actress in a Comedy (Sylvaine Strike), Best Actor in a Comedy (Gerard Bester), Best Cutting Edge Play, Best Ensemble Piece, Best Musical Score (Philip Miller), Best Lighting (Declan Randall) and Best Set Design (Chen Nakar).