kagablog

As we all know - “Force creates pressure and pressure creates counter- pressure. The result? A blowout.”

The Pump Room - previews: 7pm on 24 + 25 July, and at 5pm on 26 July 2009 at the Windybrow Theatre, Hillbrow

Written and directed by Allan Kolski Horwitz

The Pump Room is a drama about the inter-section of the criminal and political worlds, the sexual and the ideological. It is a play about our reality but one which applies to many other societies that have experienced epochs in their history when a great idealism was shared by millions of people - only to see that energy corrupted and wasted. And yet, despite the cynicism engendered by such betrayal, it is a play about keeping faith and sustaining love.

The action of the play is the renewed confrontation, in the time of the New South Africa, between Peter, a very sensitive, moral man who has been brutalised, with Mike and Lombard, former Apartheid agents who had detained and tortured him. But the time of political activism is over – they are all now involved in drug dealing and salvaging some private life for themselves.

Elsie, a domestic worker, and Lewis, a pump room attendant, are lovers caught in the crossfire; Mumsie, Elsie’s friend, another domestic, is connected to both Peter and Lombard in very different, conflicting ways. The murder of a ‘postman’ carrying drugs brings them together in the pump room of a public swimming pool in Cape Town; over several consecutive hours on a hot summer’s evening, they play out the tensions and contradictions of their pasts and presents.

CAST (In order of appearance)

Peter – Shane de Klerk lives in Eldorado Park and started writing plays in high school; he has appeared in Ezozo Connection and studied at Fuba.

Lewis – Decklan Palmer lives in Maraisburg and has appeared in several local productions; he works as a lifeguard but is keen to be more involved in the theatre.

Mike – Leroy Duke obtained an hours degree in performance from AFDA in 2008; he has appeared in several commercials.

Lombard – Ben Horowitz works in the film and television industry as a producer and director; he has acted in many films but this is his first foray into theatre.

Elsie – Lecurtia Booysens lives in Florida; she has recently finished her schooling where she had exposure to acting.

Mumsie - Nicole Hendricks was born in Westbury; she has participated in numerous community plays such as ‘Touched by an Angel’ and ‘Apartheid Sketches’.

Production Manager: Colin Manley