Hear and Now at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, is co-directed by that award-winning team who gave us Tshepang: Lara Foot Newton and Gerhard Marx. It’s a kind of psychological drama with a few really great jokes and monologues.
At its core, Hear and Now is worth seeing if only for Gerhard’s trademark brilliant set design, and Lionel Newton’s performance as the lead. The latter sometimes over-acts, admittedly, but from my perspective this has more to do with the workshopped script than his own abilities. The details of character throughout are very strong but, as alluded to, the plot is heavily overdone (given its relatively light premise), and it turns too easily towards an/the end. I have to say that I also found some of the third person narrative structure a little condescending – I think we could figure a lot of it out, guys…
In all, tho, the piece makes me miss writing, makes me slightly jealous, makes me again want to beg Gerhard to collaborate with me. Only one day left for the show!
