Alan Swerdlow
Alan Swerdlow (19**-). Stage, television and film actor, director, presenter.
Contents
Training
He studied at the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Cape Town (under Robert Mohr}.
He then became a member of that exciting and motley troupe that helped set the Market Theatre on its road to world recognition. From there to PACT, to SABC, to Pieter Toerien’s company as one of his principal directors and now offering his theatre skills to Cape Town Opera
Career
Since completing his post-graduate studies at UCT's Little Theatre, he has acted, written or directed for most of the theatrical managements in the country, among them PACT (pre-1981), Market Theatre and Pieter Toerien's company. Worked for the People's Theatre Trust.
He was a founder member of the Young Market Company and as a freelance actor has performed in a variety of roles.
In 2004 he was the Arts and Entertainment Specialist for the national radio station Safm 104-107 and crossed the floor to hard news as deputy on AM Live.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
He has appeared on stage in productions of Macbeth (1981), Hardy Folk (at the Market Theatre), Holy Moses and All That Jazz (with Young Market), Hail Wedded Love (at the Baxter Theatre).
Swerdlow translated Joshua Sobol’s Ghetto which was staged by PACT and Moira Blumenthal in 1991.
He starred in Giles Havergal’s Travels with my Aunt at the Leonard Rayne Theatre in August 1994.
Other productions include Jeeves Takes Charge (for Pieter Toerien); Hamlet, A Christmas Carol, Don't Drink the Water, and A Midsummer Night's Dream (CAPAB and NAPAC).
He wrote the script of the musical Streets of Gold.
As Director
Alan is one of South Africa's most highly regarded theatre directors. Moving with equal facility from small one-man shows to dramas and large-scale musical extravaganzas. Among his many successes are shows as different as the smash hit A Handful of Keys (ten years on and still packing houses wherever it plays), Amadeus for the State Theatre and The King and I for PACT Opera. Alan directed Yasmina Reza's Life X3 for Daphne Kuhn's Theatre on the Square and Troupe Theatre Company, and the 25th Anniversary revival of The Other Side of the Swamp for Pieter Toerien Productions. Other productions that Alan has directed for Pieter Toerien include Jeeves Takes Charge, The Sisters Rosensweig (1995), What a Carry On!, HRH, The Book Club, the acclaimed Amy's View, The Mystery of Irma Vep, and Maybe Baby, It's You.
Musical Trilogy - assistant director (NAPAC).
Romeo and Juliet (directed); The Great Gatsby (directed) (People's Theatre); directed Being Alive and Open a New Window, two gala extravaganzas for Artists Against Aids.
He also directed Edward Duke’s Jeeves Takes Charge at the Richard Haines Theatre in 1993, John Chapman’s Key for Two in 1994, Bryan Schimmel and Ian von Memerty’s A Handful of Keys at the Civic's Youth Theatre in 1994, Buddy Holly Story, Honour (2004).
Awards, etc
In his final year at UCT he was nominated for the Three Leaf Award as the most promising student.
Sources
A Handful of Keys programme notes, 1995.
Honour programme notes in 2004.
Tucker, 1997.
SACD 1980/81.
City Press, 20 March 2011.
Theatre Lives [1].
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