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Trompie talks to us!

Well what a day when my friend Alison and I got to talk to South African legend Riaan Winter, who you may know better as Trompie Toerien! I don't quite know how to describe it. If you are a South African who was fortunate enough to grow up in the 80s or even just bear witness to the high quality TV of the day you would know about Trompie en die Boksembende. It was a day that I will never forget. Listen here to the unforgettable theme song sung by the well-known Anton Goosen and let it take you back! 

The series was based on the books by Topsy Smith and Riaan was a young teenager when he starred as Trompie in 1978.

There’s been a great reaction to the Trompie en die Boksombende Facebook page, and it’s 34 years later. Are you surprised at the great reaction to the page?

I am part of the old school, Facebook, I don’t understand Facebook.  I’m technologically challenged. The first time I heard of a like was from Pieter, and I still don’t know what a like means, but I like it, and it looks like they like it. He talks of likes, the 7,000 likes still doesn’t mean anything to me but if I listen to you then it sounds alright. 

But it was a bit surprising that so many people still are interested.

Ja.  Absolutely. It’s totally, I can’t believe it.  On 29 April 2015 it’s exactly 35 years. On Tuesdays at 5:30, 29 April. There were 11 episodes, but you must also remember the thing was repeated 8 times, so it wasn’t, I don’t know when the last one was, it can be 4 – 5 years. On Kyknet, I think that was the last time. I can’t remember precisely. So in that 34 years it was flighted 8 times, so it wasn’t 34 years ago that it was last shown. The last time was about 5 years ago. And you can’t keep on going because those clothes from that time, can only go on so long.  

If you watched Trompie, the fun that kids had then in comparison to how they play now is such a difference –  Trompie was far more fun than what kids have today.

Exactly. It makes you think on innocent days. We didn’t sit in front of a computer and play TV games. We were outside, we could ride bikes in the streets, it was safe. We also try to give our children the opportunity, we want our children to read the Trompie books or watch the video.  As the time goes on it will die out. We’ve all got small kids and we want to give them that opportunity. 

How did it all come about, how did you get involved in the production?

Jan Engelen was the producer and he just came along in the schools and sat in the classes, and we didn’t know what this was all about, and I got a phone call and I went for an audition and the rest was history. He came through all the schools in the Joburg area. 

I’m quite interested in the whole process. I must have changed from those days to today, but if you were to walk us through filming an episode of Trompie, how would the process be? They’d give you a script and you’d do rehearsals and all that?

Ja. You get a script and you read through it and that’s what you’re going to do today, but it’s not learning long sentences, because they shoot from different angles so it’s short sentences, and one thing that Jan Engelen told us was just to be yourself, don’t try to be someone else when you’re in front of the camera. We could have used our own words, they gave us the direction of the conversation but you can use your own words.  We had a script but you could use your own words in the story line. It was all based on the original books. 

Do you have a favourite Trompie moment? I can remember the circus episode and the chandelier –

My favourite was when the circus came to Kwaggaberg. After we’ve done the filming we had an opportunity to swing on those trapeze, and that was an awesome feeling and my favourite episode would have been 2, Boesman and no 10, Bicycle Thieves. 

Trompie and Boesman

Boesman was an awesome dog. How did he get cast? Did he belong to somebody - ?

No we got him from the SPCA and he became my dog, but while we were busy shooting he died, so we had to get a double for Boesman. Tick fever. 

I remember two episodes quite clearly, you guys were sneaking into the circus under a canvas and in the next episode you had a circus at home and swung on a chandelier. Did you get to swing on a chandelier as well – and was it in someone's house?

Kwaggaberg Primary - actually Fairland Primary

No, no. That was in the studio and all the rest of the filming was done in Heidelberg, outside the house and so on and the inside was in the studio and school was done at Fairland Primary.  

And Heidelberg was what Topsy Smith had in mind when he wrote the books.  Kwaggaberg was Heidelberg in his mind.  And if one was to drive through Heidelberg you can use the kloof as a landmark. We did a lot of shooting there – it’s in the Nature Reserve. The dam, and some people still refer to it as the Trompie Dam.  If you go from here over Nigel into Heidelberg your first set

The Boksombende dashing into the dam to avoid being stung by bees. 

of lights, stop street then you turn right there then dam is on your right. Go straight to the 
next T junction and go left. That whole development on the right hand side, that’s where they filmed it. 

Were you as naughty as a person as Trompie?

I was lively, but not so naughty. You will have to ask my mom. It was innocent naughty. Then to steal fruit was funny, if you steal fruit today you’re in trouble.  You can be shot, things have changed. 

Rooie and Trompie with the Berg in the back

How was the money that you earned?

It was very good money.  I got R30 a day. You must remember R30 a day in 1978 was R2 a pound, the rand was stronger than the dollar. R0.84 to one dollar. I got I think R4, 000 for the whole series, it was really good money.  I know the people who played my parents who were actors, they got R60 a day. So we got half. We were kids coming from nowhere, you know.  And with that I bought cattle and sold it again. And the beginning of this year on the farm where I farm on weekends. I want to give my kids that advantage, because I had that privilege.  

It was the first series that had children as actors.

Absolutely.  Before that it was like Heidi and Pinocchio. Cartoon characters. And subsequently there haven’t been many other South African children programmes. I think now, there’s one , a Thomas they’re busy with at the moment. But there weren’t many other South Africa children programmes.  And we had no training. Jan said just be yourself. If you drink a glass of water in such a way, don’t drink it in another way. 

With the auditions, how many did they choose - ?

I think it was originally 4,000 boys, then dropped to 400 then to 24, and then 16, and then 8 and 4.  

Were the episodes filmed quite a long time before they actually aired?

Ja, it was aired in 1980 for the first time and we filmed it 78 – but we took a whole year, because we only filmed it during school holidays and weekends. If we did it full time it would have been a three month period.  They didn’t interrupt the schooling. We took the whole of 78, then in 79 they did whatever they were supposed to do and then it was flighted in 1980.

You were right at the start of Afrikaans SABC which was really good. It must have been interesting to be exposed to the SABC and how they did the production and all that. 

It was an experience, it was a field that I didn’t know from a bar of soap. 

Are you in any form of acting now?

No, no, no.  It was the one and only.  That time I wasn’t really interested, but I must say subsequently I thought it would have been lekker, but if you’re out of a thing, you’re out, and it’s difficult to come back. But that time I never really was interested.  It’s not really a career in South Africa. If you made it in America, but to make it in South Africa, it’s not – 

How has it impacted on your life going forward?

I’m recognised every now and then yes, not as much as it used to be. It did open doors for me. But saying that, you know, maybe it closed a few doors as well. Maybe it had an impact on my personality. We didn’t expect the fame and nobody told us how to handle it and kids can be mean. There’s bad with the good, but it had more positive than negative, overall. Even now. 

The author was Topsy Smith. I only recently discovered that was a guy. Did you ever meet him?

Yes I did. He wrote 24 books and I’ve got every book signed by him. He was the same guy that wrote Saartjie. Under another same. 

My blog is about pop culture, and it’s just amazing how everybody remembers Trompie. How does it make you feel that people remember it?

I feel good, but it’s got nothing to do with me.  (personally I think that's debatable) It’s the Trompie character and now that we discuss it, we as kids were so fortunate to be like that, and if you compare it with kids nowadays, it makes me feel  good. 

In Trompie’s days you had the discipline, if I remember you’d call the parents Mother and Father. And nowadays we don’t have that kind of discipline. What kind of a disciplinarian are you?  Do you give your kids a pak slae?

Now we've got Harry Potter. But seriously, I did believe in that. I do believe in discipline and I always get compliments for my kids, they’re well mannered. 

My dad used to make us sit and watch Afrikaans programmes, in the hope it would teach us to speak Afrikaans , I don’t know if it worked. Almost everything was Afrikaans back in those days. 

 And now everything is English, the internet, the games.  


Follow Trompie en die Boksombende on Facebook and purchase the DVD here  

Larry Weiss - Rhinestone Cowboy, Who's The Boss? and a whole lot more in-between!

I’m rewatching Who’s the Boss, and I got to thinking about the fact that a theme song can influence the success of a show. With Who’s the Boss, you only have to hear the opening strains, and even before you hear the first few words “There's a time for love and a time for living,” you’re transported back to a time of Tony, Angela, Mona, Jonathan and .. a time when Alyssa Milano was little. 

I had an obsession with theme tunes even then. I recorded them all on a 60 minute Safeway cassette. Minutes before the show started I’d run round the house telling everyone to shut up, then I’d stand in front of the TV with my cassette recorder and hit record when the song came on. Often I’d get it wrong or someone would talk, or the dog would bark – and we’d have to repeat the same thing the next week. I ended up with a lot of theme songs and played the tape so much – and recorded so often in little short stretches – that it eventually became warped and unusable. But in those days, that’s where it ended. If I
wanted to know any more about a theme song I’d have to watch the beginning or end credits very intently and more often than not I’d miss the credit I was looking for!

Thank goodness for the dawn of the internet!! A two minute search told me the information I’d wanted all those years ago. Three versions of the theme song were used throughout the series' run, which were performed by Larry Weiss (1984–86), Steve Wariner (1986–90), and Jonathan Wolff (1990–92). 

On googling Larry Weiss, I discovered that not only had he sung the “Who’s The Boss”
theme song, he also wrote and performed the very popular country song “Rhinestone
Cowboy” before Glen Campbell did his version of it. 

Both of these songs have impacted my life and it was incredible to discover the
connection between them. Here's the Larry Weiss original version of Rhinestone Cowboy! 




I had to know more, so I fired off an email to Larry and was thrilled to receive a response very fast! I have been very struck by his humility and modesty! 

I think Rhinestone Cowboy’s about surviving and overcoming hardship, and having ambition and working hard to reach the top. Would you say this is true? What inspired you to write the song?

I really put two ideas together. The first was about what was going on in my life..I wanted to be a more recognized writer and possibly a singer songwriter which didn’t happen then. The second was my love of the cowboy culture as a kid. The Saturday afternoon movie heroes such as: Tex Ritter (my favorite Country & Western singer), Roy Rodgers, Gene Autrey, John Wayne, Buster Crabb, and so forth. And by the way..my favorite song is ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky’. 

20th Century Records Rhinestone Cowboy - Larry Weiss
Source: http://www.45cat.com/record/k5460

“THERE’S BEEN A LOAD OF  COMPRIMISIN’ ON THE ROAD TO MY HORIZON” – that’s a magic line in a magic song! I think anyone on earth can relate to this. Was this based on something you were or had been going through at the time? 

The answer to that was in the second verse, ‘there’ll BE a load of compromising
on the road to my horizon’. That philosophy was the reason Glen recorded the song.Sure he recognized the commercial viability of the chorus, but it was the power of those lines that mattered most to him. Actually, I had the whole song written excluding that last line change. It took me some months to arrive at it. Sometimes us writers just download a bunch of stuff, some mental..some spiritual..it’s the spiritual that make the difference. 

Let’s face it there’s a bit of a difference in selling textiles (your family business) and
performing from your soul. How did you get into the entertainment side of things? 

I grew up in a house that played all kinds of wonderful music. From Classical, to show
tunes, Blues, Folk, and lots of Jazz. I couldn’t tell one fabric from another and I think
my father finally saw the light, and financed my first little demos. I began to hang out
on Broadway in Jack Dempsey’s right next to the Brill Building. The late Wes Farrell,
was working for Roosevelt Music, and encouraged my writing, and the rest became a slow history of wonderful experiences and growth.

Rhinestone Cowboy was your own single which charted off your debut album “Black and Blue Suite” in 1974. How did you feel about Glen Campbell picking it up a year later? 

Back then I had mixed feelings about it. A number of my contemporaries called me and told me that I had the definitive version, but in retrospect how could I possibly complain having one of God’s greatest entertainers wind up singing it, and being branded by it. Some say my name attached to that song seems strange..unless they would have called me the ‘Rhinestone Rabbi’ :) 

Rhinestone Cowboy’s an internationally recognised song well known to all generations. It broke the mould of country and charted mainstream. Was this something out of the ordinary for a song to be extremely popular both mainstream as well as country? 

Not at all. After all, Ray Charles had tremendous success against all odds singing classic
Country songs that went Pop, R&B, and A/C. The only difference I think, is that Glen’s  record was very Pop, crossed from Pop into Country. I believe that happened because Glen is a true Southerner (Arkansas), and luckily for me, the phrase learned after
moving to Nashville, had been around since the late 50’s, when the great couture’ designer, Manuel, made up some of the most dazzling rhinestoned outfits for country singers, and later, Rockers as well. So, I kinda fell into it with what I wrote, and what it wound up meaning for people. 

How did Rhinestone Cowboy change your life? 

I got cards and letters from people I didn’t even know..and royalty checks galore.. !

Larry Weiss
Source: http://nashvillearts.com/2009/11/03/larry-weiss-cuts-and-scratches/

At a very similar time (mid 70s) John Ritter was answering a question about how he would like to be remembered, by saying he would like to be remembered as someone who tweaked the golden thread of humanity. You are somebody who has definitely done this and in potentially a very unassuming way. Your songs and lyrics have touched generations and nations. I think particularly the country genre is something that touches people. Would you say this is something you wanted to do intentionally or always had in you?

Yes I would. Inspirational is something that comes through to me, because I need it as  much as the next person might. 

I’ve seen that Nat King Cole and Barry Manilow have also worked with your songs. What a great experience! Does working with other artists and not exclusively limiting your work to yourself expand your reach and your message to the world? 

I did not meet Nat ‘King’ Cole, but was so honored to have him sing one of my songs so
early in my writing career. Barry is one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever met. And
’Lay Me Down (Roll Me Out To Sea)’ is one of his all time favorite songs. It’s a rather sad/
dark song, at least the way I intended it. It was in my first album, ‘Black & Blue Suite’.
The first time he performed it was at the Universal Amphitheater in L.A. I was in the
audience of probably 20,000, and before singing it, he mentioned that, ‘he hoped I was feeling better since I wrote it’..I reminded him about that when I saw him here in Nashville a few years ago..he remembered the moment too. 

Brand New Life 

I think that Who’s The Boss’ theme song had a large deal to do with the success of the show. The song is catchy, uplifting (again about someone being able to make a new start for himself and achieve greater things) and we all knew it instantly. How did the opportunity come about to do that? 

A buddy of mine, Errol Sober, who I’ve written with and rides both sides of the desk, creative and business, was an agent at the time, and suggested to the show’s producer that I sing the theme. When they decided to change the singer, there a bit of flack about it from the public. My Mom sent me a piece of the Newark Star Ledger showing some fan complaining about it. Cute..huh? 




Did the success of the show affect your career in any way?

Unless it’s a very recognizable singer, and a theme that steps out to become a hit, no one really knows who sings a TV theme. No one except you! 

You were part of a team that got it right. I always used to wonder if it was Tony Danza
singing the song. This is another instance where you have touched the golden thread by being involved with a show that so many love and remember. Please describe the
experience of being involved in the show and doing the song. !

I was thrilled to be a part of it in my own small way..but my participation was merely overdubbing a track in the studio..did not meet the cast..until years later when I met Tony Danza. 

You’re quoted on your website as saying “Art has no age. It’s ready, when it’s ready.” I LOVE that. It kind of makes me feel that unfinished manuscript I have sitting somewhere on this computer could still be born one day. It actually kind of takes the stress off that we tend to put on ourselves trying to get things done. Is that why you waited a while between your two albums – just to give yourself time to get it right? 

I haven’t really given myself a chance to develop a performing career..I was busy living life..raising a family..getting a movie done..working on a musical (“Rhinestone Cowboy The Musical’), and developing the Rhinestone Cowboy brand in other ways, i.e a hotel franchise. But I felt it was time to do a continuation, and I feel more confident vocally
so I’ve taken the plunge. The album has been out a few years, but it’s finally starting to get some attention both here and abroad. I hope to have a tour of sorts next year.
I actually have a Christmas single out in the UK getting some play, called ‘Christmas Without You’.  (available HERE in iTunes)

You relocated to Nashville in 1992 and it took a while to become a successful decision. But something drove you to keep going and you produced “Cuts and Scratches”. Please walk me through that album. 

Larry Weiss
Source: www.rhinestonecowboy.com

I was burnt out on L.A. If you ever heard Glen’s last single on Capitol Records,
‘Hollywood Smiles’, you would have heard my point of view. I haven’t had much
success as a writer in Nashville..yet, so I decided to make another album. It’s quite
personal and deep if you check out the lyrics..a few of the songs in it will be part of
my song score for the musical. I’m also pulling a few songs from my first album. My
youngest brother Mitchell calls me ‘the recycler’..I hoping that I am.. 

You speak of battling through the depths of depression at that time. I’m a fellow sufferer and have been to hell and back myself – did you find that the new album helped with this?

Depression is something you’ve learned and a lesson you have re-learn to overcome
it..if success would be the only cure for it, I’d have to be successful all the time..am
not at that level professionally…yet. So I work it from the inside out one day at a time..try to catch the reasons I might fall victim to it and ‘change the channel’ whenever possible. The most valuable commodity one has in life …is time..all the money in the world can’t buy it back.. 

I’ve heard about a Rhinestone Cowboy Musical – please tell us more about this?

I can’t discuss the story line, because I’ve been living with it for some time and see no
reason to give it away..but I will say that it’s inspirational..colorful..poignant..and
identifiable..the the reason I wrote the song. 

What’s in the pipeline for you now? 

Getting my projects done. And..they are on the way! 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ONE AND ALL FROM THE ‘RHINESTONE RABBI’..LARRY WEISS

Find out more and follow Larry's activities on his very informative website here

Liefling the Musical with Zak Hendrikz

When I was younger, my parents took us to theatre all the time and I suppose I got a bit blasé about it but now that I’m older, I know we mustn’t take things for granted and I cherish the opportunity to go to the theatre. Each and every performance has something unique and special  - something beautiful.  Liefling was beautiful from start to finish.

The last time I chatted to Zak Hendrikz he was in I Have Life, the story of Alison Botha who was brutally raped and disembowelled by two attackers in 1994 – and how she survived and triumphed.  Zak played one of the rapists and I was so impressed with his performance that I had to meet him and when I did I found out that he in fact is really nice, and a very talented actor.  So I couldn’t wait to see him again when I found out he would be in Liefling, the first Afrikaans musical to be held at the large venue the Teatro at Montecasino.

Let me start off by saying that Liefling is going to be a smash hit. If you haven’t got your tickets already, you’d better get them quickly! (click here to book)

In a turbulent world of loadshedding, crime, corruption, and particularly today’s story of the resignation (forced?) of the underqualified or unqualified CEO of the SABC Ellen Tshabalala, Liefling is a breath of fresh air. It also proudly announces  “Geen Load Shedding by Liefling - die musiekblyspel; Montecasino Teatro. They have enough backup power to ensure the show goes on. 

I’m a first language English speaker, but my father is an English / Afrikaans translator. Rather shamefacedly I admit to the fact that when I start talking Afrikaans, people respond to me in English. But I love the language with its picturesque descriptive way of saying things, and I listen to it as often as I can. So what a privilege it was to attend the opening night of Liefling and sit in the audience for the top performers in their field in the wonderful language of Afrikaans doing what they love!  Liefling is not only for Afrikaners.

The production was excellent with  smooth and fast scene changes and sets, and it was the first time I've seen the legendary Sonja Herholdt live too.

You may have seen Liefling The Movie a few years back, which featured Bobby van Jaarsveld, and now he is back in the role of Jan on stage.  Liza Bronner stars as Liefling.

The story is the classic ‘boy meets girl, loses her, but meets her in the end.’

Zak Hendrikz stars as Liefling’s brother Kobus and he answered some questions for us.

This is such a different role to the last one I saw you in where you played in I Have Life – Alison’s story.  What’s it like coming from such a hateful character to a story all about love? Kobus seems like a bit of a troubled guy and he carries a kind of pain – and love changes Melanie as well. Any tricks that you can share that you use to bring that across as well as you do?

Thank you for the compliment Gaynor. As an actor you need to be as versatile as possible.  Through a lot of hard work and experience I have taught myself to adapt and grow as a performer.  For me to go from a hateful character like Frans du Toit  in I HAVE LIFE to that of a romantic lead as Kobus in LIEFLING, is something as a performer I love to do. As an actor to go into the psyche of different characters is not only exciting but a huge challenge.  Especially when the characters are so removed as these two characters I have portrayed recently.  There are not tricks in order to bring your character to life.  Rather to commit yourself to the role, regardless if you relate to the character’s personally or actions and just play the truth.

What was it like playing alongside legends such as Sonja Herholdt, Cobus Venter and all the other stars?

Zak with Cobus Venter and Edrien Erasmus (source Zak Hendrikz)

Sonja and I have walked a long journey together.  My mom and dad where varsity friends with Sonja, and I remember playing at Sonja’s house when I was a little boy.  I haven’t seen Sonja in years.  So when I heard that she would be playing my mother in LIEFLING, I was over the moon.  Sonja is an incredible human being that is always cheerful and giving and adds a lot to this production.  Working with my fellow colleagues like Cobus Venter, Nadia Beukes, Edrien Erasmus, Marleee vd Merwe and Bobby van Jaarsveld is always a pleasure.  I have worked with all these brilliant performers at some point in my career, and working with them again is like one big family reunion.

There’s nothing quite like musical theatre to lift the spirits! And I heard that the cast of The Rocky Horror Show  which is playing in the Pieter Toerien theatre came to see you. That must have been quite an experience and wow! What a fabulous time it is in South African theatre that we have two such incredible shows playing in the same complex.  Do you feel the same playing to someone like Brendan van Rhyn or to the average Joe?

It is always daunting to know when your fellow performers come and watch a production.  We as performers instinctively criticize, whether it be positive or negative.  Through critique we grow as artist because with observation we judge and then learn from others mistakes, or their brilliance to become better performers.  So yes, there is more a sense of pressure when your colleagues come and watch to that of a normal audience, but when you know you are doing a killer job, then it is more exciting than daunting, because you can showcase why you got the role in the first place.

I personally don’t believe that Liefling is only for Afrikaans audiences, after all I myself am an English speaker and I loved it, and I saw a friend of mine in the audience, Chris Avant Smith, who also loved it. But whilst I was there it struck me that I am so glad for Afrikaans speakers that there is  something for them.  I may be barking up the wrong tree but I think it’s possible that Afrikaners feel sidelined as a culture in today’s South Africa and when we met previously you told me that although most of the Teatro’s audience was Afrikaans, they had never had an Afrikaans show there.   Do you think there’s a resurgence in Afrikaans theatre? How have people responded?

Theatre in South-Africa has become very unpredictable.  Some producers use the same gimmicks as previous productions that made their shows a success, but when they try and do it again it fails.  The only genre in my opinion that has a loyal following in South-Africa, be it theatre, film or TV is that of the Afrikaans market.  I believe that over the years producers have noticed that and it is a safer option for them to do something in Afrikaans than gambling on a new project that might fail.  So in a sense there has been a rebirth in the Afrikaans market, and yes, especially the musical theatre industry.  This year alone we had 3 huge musicals in Afrikaans in Gauteng alone, whereas in the past there would only be one or two during the course of the year.  The Afrikaans market will stay loyal to its language whether they feel side-lined or not, when they enjoy a production like LIEFLING, audiences will flock from all over the country in order to come and support. The proof is in the pudding, LIEFLING is a massive success with sold out performances, and this is the first time in history that Monte Casino Theatro has put on a Afrikaans show in this venue.

Do you have a favourite scene or part of the musical? I really enjoyed the piece you sang with Cobus Venter – as well as the dancing!

I wouldn’t say that there is a specific scene or moment in the show that I enjoy more than the next.  I really enjoy the production as a whole and believe that this is a top quality production.  But it is really exciting for me to be playing a character where I can sing.  I haven’t been in a production where I have had the opportunity to sing as much as I do in this show.  It was a daunting thought that I would be exposed to a genre that I am not absolutely confident in.  I know my strengths as an actor and dancer, but this was new territory for me.  But I am blessed that I have had the opportunity to challenge myself in this field, and am thoroughly enjoying it.

You’re a busy guy! After this you’ll be in Ballade Vir ‘n Enkeling asGavin Greeff . He’s also a bit of a powerful, manipulative type of person. Is that role more about a ‘darker’ side?

Indeed.  Gavin Greeff is definitely not your average nice guy. The Gavin that I am portraying is also quite far removed from the previous Gavin Greeff that was seen in the series.  It is always exciting to play those characters, more meat on the bone as they say.  Do not want to give away to many details about the character at this point, don’t want to spoil the movie.  You will have to go and watch it for yourself to see what Gavin is up to in this new version of Ballade.

Tell me about your other pursuits – you do farming as well as make music videos

I haven’t been doing music videos for a while now, I suppose I wanted to challenge myself to see if I was capable of doing it.  Making music videos is not something that I would give up doing yet, but my path has steered into other directions at the moment.   I do direct about two productions a year which is definitely one of my other big passions. But this year I have been blessed with amazing opportunities in the acting field and I feel that I have to channel my energies into that direction at the moment.  And yes, I do own a farm. We specialize in miniature goats and donkeys on the farm. The farm is situated between Randfontein and Carltenville in the West Rand.  Even speaking about it, it still feels strange to me.  If you would have told me 4 years ago that this would happen to me, I would have laughed in your face.  It is funny how one’s life can be steered into a different direction in an instant.  Once again, I am blessed with the opportunities that has been given to me and knowing that I am a BOER-ACTOR that specialize in donkeys and Stanislavski is quite unique.

Book your tickets for Liefling here, but be fast - there aren't many left! 

Peter Pan - The Pantomime (Janice Honeyman)

BERNARD JAY FOR JOBURG THEATRE PRESENTS:  Craig Urbani and Bongi Mthombeni in 

PETER PAN - THE PANTOMIME

Lighting Designer - Graham McClusky 
Musical Director - Roelof Colyn
Sound Designer - Trevor Peters
Costume Coordinator - Bronwen Lovegrove
Choreographer - Timothy le Roux
Associate Choreographer - Shelley Adriaanzen
Executive Producer - Bernard Jay
Associate Producers Simon James and Claire Pacariz
Written and directed by - Janice Honeyman
Publicist - Collett Dawson

I talk to the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust!!

While I have spoken to a lot of people and a good number of foundations, I hadn't had the chance to speak to an animal welfare foundation and I'm thrilled to bring you my interview with the  Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, named of course for their famous founder, author Gerald Durrell. 

As a child, and now, I loved the books of Gerald Durrell, and I hope sharing this interview with you, I can in some way repay some of the joy he gave. 

My great thanks to Ceri Pritchett, one of the volunteers at the Durrell Foundation, for her time and effort in answering my questions all the way from Jersey, Channel Islands! 

Peter Anderson Interview - The Unspeakable - Conflict of a white South African in the apartheid years.

While browsing through Twitter one day I came across the fascinating account of Peter Anderson

When I heard about his novel The Unspeakable, I knew this was a man I needed to talk to. Any South African and indeed anyone with an interest in the compulsion of indoctrination and the wheres and whyfores of why a group of people will act in the way they do needs to read this. 

It's the mid-1980s, the era of so-called reformist apartheid, and South Africa is in flames. Police and military are gunning  down children at the forefront of the  struggle.  Far from such action, it seems, a small party of four is traveling by minibus to the north of the country, close to the border with Zimbabwe. Their aim is to shoot a documentary on the discovery of a prehistoric skull that Professor Digby Bamford boasts is evidence that "True man first arose in southern Africa". Boozy, self-absorbed Professor Bamford is unaware that his young lover, Vicky, brings with her some complications. Rian, the videographer, was once in love with her, and his passion has been re-ignited. Bucs, a young man from the townships, is doing his best not to be involved in the increasingly deadly tensions. Told in the first person by Rian, it centres on the conflicted being of the white male under apartheid. Unlike many of the great novels of the era, it renounces any claim to the relative safety zone of moralist dissociation from the racist crime against humanity, and cuts instead to the quick of complicity. 

Big Bang Theory join Team Ritter

This crossover is incredible in quite a number of ways.  

Big Bang Theory join Team Ritter to raise funds for aortic health research

My friends over at the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health work tirelessly on raising awareness and funds for their research and they're about to run the New York Marathon to raise funds. It's fantastic to see The Big Bang Theory putting their support behind it and becoming part of the Ritter Crew

Kaley Cuoco starred in 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter together with John  Ritter before Big Bang. Simon Helberg and Jason Ritter were college room mates, and Jim Parsons has often and famously spoken of his admiration for John Ritter and the fact that John has been one of the greatest influences on him. 

Three's Company is my favourite sitcom in the world, followed by Big Bang Theory and I think it's because of the influences of Three's Company on Big Bang Theory.  I love this!!! 

You can also become a Team Ritter support crew member! Here's how:   For $15 you can purchase a shirt and all funds go directly to the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health. Then share your pic with us on social media using the hashtag #TeamRitter to help raise awareness and save lives. www.rittercrew2014.com

Ashley Dowds is in Constellations and he is a star!

I love my celebrities and I love my community, and when a celebrity is from my community and we can sit in a local coffee shop and have a stunning conversation on a Saturday morning, I know that something’s right with the world. 

I’ve been wanting to chat with Ashley Dowds for a long time and when I heard that he is in Constellations at the Studio Theatre at Monte Casino, it was time to quit  faffing and do it!

Ashley’s had a long, varied and exciting career in the entertainment business in South Africa and I’m proud that he lives in Kensington! 

And there is NOTHING that beats Queen Street in Kensington on a warm Spring Saturday morning chatting to a star I’ve respected for a long time! It's one of the moments that I will cherish. 

I found out via Monte Casino that you’re in a play called Constellations with Janna Ramos Violante. You’re playing a bee keeper and she’s a quantum physicist.

They’re both kind of literary concepts more than the idea of him working as a beekeeper in the show.  The whole thing plays on this notion of time. 

The play takes place in parallel universes – is this a play out of a ‘what might have been if I’d made that kind of choice?’ idea?

The parallel universe is that at any given time there is a possibility of another outcome and even within each mini scene - some of them happen within seconds – there’s a possibility of another choice that’s made. She models herself on this idea of quantum physics that time is irrelevant. Time doesn’t exist in the quantum realm. It’s a non concept. The metaphor of bees is that they exist in harmony, there’s a system in place that helps to make things simple and meaningful.

It happens quite quickly and it can be a little bit confusing  because suddenly you’re thrust into it. And everything’s happening at once. What the audience is given is an offer of four or five scenes. It’s all happening in the same place but they’re all slightly different.  They’re the same people but they exist in a different realm.

Ashley Dowds and Janna Ramos Violante in Constellations

How do you research a role like this?

When it comes down to the rehearsal process and the chemistry that you’re developing with the other actor, that’s most important. You can do a lot of research and it’s always debatable how much that’s going to inform what you’re doing. Nick Payne wrote a very interesting script and he’d encountered this notion of multiverse and he was looking at quantum physics in various other books. I bought one or two of them to look at this concept of time. You do track a central story line so it’s not like it’s so fragmented that you can’t pick it up.

The theatre itself is quite nice if I remember correctly. It’s quite intimate.

Ja, it is a nice little theatre. It only seats about 160. It was built largely for experimental work where there is a bit of risk involved.  A play like this is fairly niche. If you expect to come in with a beer and be entertained you’re not going to be. If you’re not prepared as an audience to come and listen and focus it’s not for you.  This is new story telling in the sense that the way that the language unfolds is very different to what you might expect. 

I like a play that tells a story and there aren’t a lot of them around so this is nice.

If a producer puts something on he has to try and lessen the risk and the more he can appeal to a broader audience, the more sure he is of getting some profit.

Alan Swerdlow’s a hell of a director to work with. One of the most highly regarded in the country I think. He’s done The Mousetrap – Handful of Keys and a whole lot of other things. What’s it been like to work with him?

I started with a play called The Other Side of the Swamp which was basically Malcolm Terrey and myself. It was originally produced by Pieter Toerien in the late 70s, 80s with Eckard Rabe in my role, then Alan directed us about 15 years ago.  Then I did another play called Hard Love with Alan and it was phenomenal because Alan is Jewish. The play was written by Motti Lerner who is the bad boy of Israeli Theatre.  It was about orthodoxy. The notion of religion and faith and fidelity and love. I was cast with an Israeli actress.  It's about the choices that people make. The character I played here was a writer but he’d been brought up in this ultra orthodox community and had married this girl very young and then decided to leave the community. He’s excommunicated.

Have you done one man shows and then shows with big casts?

They’re very different dynamics. To hold a one man show together and to keep the energy is very tiring. It also depends on the kind of story that you’re telling as a one man performer. In a bigger cast like Mouse Trap or Hail Natives which I did at The Market Theatre this year, very different.  That was directed by Bobby Heaney – it was originally a Bill Flynn and Paul Slabolepsky play and this was the 20th anniversary of it.

I haven’t been to The Market Theatre for a while. I’ve been a bit nervous. How is it now?

 The Market Theatre are developing. You’ve got the main theatre on the right and then you’ve got the theatre on the left which they’re rebuilding. 

I know you more for being on TV – Scandal, Generations, Isidingo and as a presenter.    

 Generations was a sausage machine. Pull in as much typical soapie material and churn it out.  Isidingo was a bit more interesting. The character was a little riskier, risqué. He was gay and very camp.  I did Scandal for three years. Scandal was going to start as a drama series and then they got the thumbs up to do a soapie. A lot of them start out with big aspirations and they do location shoots, and then they realise they have to save money and shoot everything in a studio. I was there until about 2006.

It must be interesting working on that kind of production. Was it daily or weekly show?

What normally happens with soapies is you have three storylines. You have an A, B, and C storyline and you go through a few weeks when you’re in the A storyline and you’re featured every day and then you take a break. It’s like a war when you’re out in the trenches for a while and then you’re back off.

I’d love to sit on the set of one of those shows one day and see how they do it. Do you have a favourite or most challenging role that you’ve played?

Quite recently there was a fascinating role that I would have loved to have had developed bit more.  A real life character, Arthur Goldreich in the new movie Mandela’s Gun.  It’s a cameo role. Arthur Goldreich was the front man of Lilliesleaf where Mandela was hiding out. Supposedly when he came back from military training he hid the pistol he was given by Haile Selassie and the movie takes you behind the scenes and leads you through the sting where the police came.  And it’s so important, not just the role but learning about our own history.  That led me to read a book earlier this year called Rivonia’s Children. If you ever want to know more about the history of the communist party and Umkhontwe Wesizwe, it's an absolutely phenomenal book.

 Going Nowhere Slowly was such a fun show.  That must have been awesome but it must have been quite tiring too.

Book by Ashley Dowds inspired by Going Nowhere Slowly

I was involved on and off for two seasons.  It’s hard to keep something like that going with budgets the way they are, and to keep someone on the road for more than a few weeks is a big ask.  The producer used to say the best part was getting the viewing public to get out of their dialing zones. And what he meant was instead of hitting the highway down to Cape Town or Durban, to go off the road and find little towns and villages and explore things you’ve never explored before.  We did a lot of the Karoo, and Sutherland, looking at the telescopes.  In one spot we broke down and the car had to be repaired, which made the producer very grumpy but we had to stay put which was very different from the experience we’d been having because we filmed quickly and moved on. That was Prince Albert and I met some people there who had moved up from Cape Town to settle in a small town and opened up a B and B. The husband had a major stroke and was incapacitated and couldn’t talk. I learnt about how you handle that situation from a spouse’s perspective. He was working with horses to learn to get back on his feet.  He’s lost his language, but the horses understand his tone.  And so they understand  him more than anyone else.  And just down from Prince Albert, there was a very old character called Oute Lappies. He was 92 years old when I met him there. He was part of the Karretjie Mense who according to the Wits University DNA department arethe oldest DNA in the world. Groups of peple in the Karoo region who ended up being itinerant sheep shearers and travelling around in wagons. He would collect junk and make things and he was famous for lanterns. He would collect flattened tin from the railways and at night he would construct this long chain of wagons and light them all with candles, and on this old dusty Karoo Road you’d see this long chain of wagons lit up with candles.

You must have quite a busy schedule. What does a day in your life involve?

I keep busy and also I have a family. Sod’s law is applicable in many cases, because very often the busier you are the more work you get and you have to turn away work. And then you find yourself with nothing the next month.  

Cabin In the Words

I’m trying to generate something of my own, I’ve built a little studio and I’m doing sound work. I’m hoping to get into audio books. Recording stuff in my own studio. Partially because I hate getting into traffic and having to travel to studios to do voice work, which is a bread and butter for me. I do commercials, radio and TV voice.  It’s still new and something that people are trying to get used to.  We’re still looking at the market. There’s a friend of mine who is a writer and he has 7 books on Amazon. He’s taken ownership of them again. He holds the copyright. There are big companies that do this.  It’s called Cabin In the Words. I’d love to get into the local scene where people are using it over here. And I can hire it out for recordings. I also do AVs for corporates. There’s a mining company that’s been asking for Zulu voices, and then Russian and then Polish. I’m not that connected with those languages so it’s been a mission. But they are here, believe me. I know one of the vets over here is a Russian.  So if anyone is looking for studio hire or some help in recording -

I heard the other day people are so busy they don’t have time to read so you can put an audio book in your car and you can listen to it and it’s taking off.

It’s a growing industry.

We both come from the same part of town.  How long have you been here?

Since 2010. The history and the community appeals to me.  My grandfather came out here from Ireland when he was six and settled in Malvern. And I received an invitation about an event for the Foster Gang centenary tomorrow.

You should definitely try to go along to that. It will be very interesting. And you can chat to Isabella Pingle from Kensington Heritage. It’s an interesting story. I don’t know if you’ve been exposed to that story at all.

Well, my grandfather was there. He was a boy at the time. There was a lot of information going around, there was a police cordon around this area. People were shot, one was Delarey. He and his brothers went down to the cave while the police were there. They lived in Malvern. So he wrote something about it.

I’m sure Isabella would like that if she hasn’t got it already. She really is the one to chat to, she is so connected.

I was at the Kensington Club for the opening of the Jozi Film Festival.  And I was starting to create a documentary about trees, because people suggest that the forest we have in Joburg is one of the biggest we have in the Southern hemisphere. I don’t know if it’s completely true. It’s a manmade forest.  And specially in Kensington there were 66 miles of trees planted from a nursery in the south in Turffontein and I found the brief story about that but it would be very nice to follow up those stories.

See Ashley in Constellations – you can book here  and use his services at Cabin In the Words.

You can follow his latest activities on Twitter @AshleyDowds