The Mechanicals

Not to be confused with the Port Elizabeth band known as The Mechanicals who performed on a raft in St George's Park Swimming Pool during Taubie Kushlick's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1938.

Also known as The Mechanicals Collective. The Mechanicals are a self-funded, Cape Town based collective of professional theatre directors, actors and designers who came together in 2008 to create professional, independent theatre while striving for innovation without obligation. Chris Weare is a founding member of the collective.

Productions include Glengarry Glen Ross (2008); Buried Child (2008); The Zoo Story (2008); Decadence (2010); The Real Inspector Hound (2011); A Lie of the Mind (2011); Lovborg's Women (2011); Die Rebellie van Lafras Verwey (2012).

Their Chekov Season in 2013 included Die Kersieboord, performed from 6 to 17 August and 27 to 31 August at the Intimate Theatre, Cape Town, directed by Sandra Temmingh with Tinarie van Wyk Loots, Wilhelm van der Walt and Oscar Peterson, The Proposal (20:00) and The Bear (22 to 26 August, 1 to 12 September).

Woordfees 2013: The Mechanicals received critical acclaim for their first Afrikaans play and Albert Maritz directs the repertory company in two Afrikaans plays at this year's festival. Deksels was written by Leon Kruger and stars Carel Nel and Tinarie van Wyk Loots, while Pieter Fourie's Die Koggelaar, written in 1988, will find a new audience in its interrogation of the Afrikaner psyche. (Cape Argus 26 Feb 2013).

Sources

[www.capetowntoday.co.za/partners/theatre/the-mechanicals.html]

Report by Steyn du Toit, Sunday Independent, 10 July 2011.

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