FIVE loud slaps in quick succession, each followed by a man’s yelp and a shout. Then five more – this time each followed by a woman’s shrill scream.
It’s not quite what one would expect to hear while strolling along the corridors of the Berea campus of the Durban University of Technology (DUT) on a weekday afternoon, and it certainly raises a few eyebrows.
But follow the sounds to the campus Courtyard Theatre and all becomes clear – drama students are eagerly taking instruction from director Pamela Tancsik and slapstick comedy expert Gavin Stockden, of Clowns Without Borders, while rehearsing for their first big production of the year.
Chairs, tables, a ladder and a tool box dot the rehearsal space and in the hour of rehearsals that follows students enjoy much laughter – and some even suffer a bruise and ache or two.
They are instructed on how best to milk comical situations involving not only slaps to the face, but also near misses from someone swinging a ladder, a man getting into a right scramble while putting on a jacket incorrectly, feet crunching fingers and assorted tumblings, stumblings and fumblings.
Twenty first-, second- and third-year students appear in Karl Valentin in Africa, a compilation of five slapstick, absurdist comedy sketches inspired by cult Bavarian riter Karl Valentin.
The sketches have been directly translated into English by Munich-born Dr Pamela Tancsik, a senior lecturer at DUT. Durban playwright-director Giselle Turner then spent many weeks writing scripts, giving the stories a modern setting.
The production takes to the stage at 7pm nightly, from Saturday until March 1, at the theatre in Steve Biko (Mansfield) Road, off Botanic Gardens Road.
Valentin is a comic genius with an iconic, lanky, very thin appearance. Although not as well known outside his native Bavaria, he was widely acclaimed for his 1920s silent films, for which he became labelled as Germany’s answer to Charlie Chaplin.
He developed a reputation for writing and performing short comic routines, which he performed in a strong Bavarian dialect, usually with his partner, Liesl Karlstadt, says Wikipedia.
Valentin’s stage persona was that of the absurd, unreasonable and often cruel clown, while Karlstadt depicted a more realistic and reasonable counterpoint. Their works were amusing and charming, but often tinged with poignancy.
Valentin made numerous films, silent and with audio. But it was as a cabaret performer that he built a reputation as one of the leading comic performers in Germany during the Weimar Republic, the website says.
Influence
Early in his career, Valentin worked as a carpenter, which enabled him to build his stage props and create a 21-piece one-man band with which he toured.
Born in 1882, and having died in 1948, his style of absurdist humour and physical theatre had a marked influence on the successes of such greats as Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy.
Tancsik and Turner have tried to capture these slapstick elements, and the master’s witty wordplay, in their 80-minute production.
The DUT production marks the first production of Valentin’s plays on the African continent and Turner is excited about it.
Turner says Valentin’s manipulation of language was glorious, and he was a master of absurdity, presenting a depressed philosophy around human beings.
Valentin’s clever wordplay often did not translate well into English.
In adapting Tancsik’s literal translations, Turner tried to go beyond Valentin’s words to get the desired comic effect – to find the great entertainer’s essence and modernise his works while being true to his spirit.
“German is a much more lusty language, chunky – and often Pamela would die laughing over Valentin’s choice of words, which, sometimes when translated, did not have suitable English equivalents. So it proved a challenge,” Turner says.
The cast loves rehearsing for the production, which has scenes set in a dinner theatre and photographic studio.
Third-year student Thuso Mathe, 23, of Mariannhill, says he loves the show’s broad physicality.
He plays a bumbling, comical apprentice electrician in a sketch involving the repair of a broken spotlight – a fun sequence involving some tricky play with a six-step ladder.
He lists it as one of the highlights in which he has appeared at DUT, among them Sitting Around the Fire and Nawe Mbopha KaSthayi.
Another third-year student, Thandanani Qwabe, 25, of uMlazi – who plays opposite Mathe as a clumsy chief electrician in the spotlight-fixing sketch – says this is a first for him as it marks his first real stab at a comedy role.
“I am usually cast as the tsotsi-like character – the angry villain.” He says the production has been a rewarding challenge.
l Tickets for Karl Valentin in Africa cost R35. To book contact Lebo at 031 373 2194 or lebohangs@dut.ac.za, or Mthandazo at 031 373 2532 or mthandazom@dut.ac.za.
Safe parking is available at Gate 4 on the Steve Biko campus opposite the Courtyard Theatre.