The Cape’s favourite Aunty is hitting the big screen this weekend and you’re invited.
Marc Lottering and his famous hit musical Aunty Merle – Things Get Real is playing on the big screen at the Baxter Theatre on Sunday and next Sunday.
The much-loved production was filmed in front of a live audience last year and Lottering said he can’t wait to share it with loyal audiences, and might just extend it with a city tour.
The entire cast will be watching the film along with the audience. It promises to be a unique interactive experience in that fans will be encouraged to dance and sing along.
Aunty Merle – Things Get Real was written by Marc Lottering, directed by Lara Foot and produced by Anwar McKay. The show was nominated for six Fleur Du Cap Theatre Awards.
Lottering told Weekend Argus:
“We’ve always regretted the fact that we never filmed our previous shows. And so this time around we were determined not to have the same regrets.
“The show was shot professionally by Homebrew Films, with a live audience. So we had no idea what the end product would be like. You have to understand that there were no retakes like in the film world. We just had to run with the show as we would on a normal night.
“Load shedding, and air conditioning not working and sweating into microphones en alles!
“Well the end product was way beyond what we anticipated; raw and beautiful, and that is why we simply have to share it with the audience.”
Lottering encouraged the audience to get in the spirit of things.
“Don’t be shy, get in on the fun and dress up as your favourite character, we’d like to see the creativity.
“As far as I know, we’ve not as yet had a local stage musical shown on a big screen along with the cast in the audience, encouraging audience members to sing and jol along to certain songs.
“We will be watching the show on a big screen in the very theatre where the show was staged. The lyrics will be available for everyone.
“I’m helluva curious to see how it all comes together. If this rocks, we hope to be able to have screenings in different cities across the country.”
Jawaahier Petersen, who plays Soraya Samsodien, said: “It’s going to be amazing to watch this on the big screen. Because it’s new and never been done, the idea still needs to sit with people, but they’re gonna love it.
“As Aunty Merle says ‘we are excited to watch them watching us watch them watching us’. People must come and celebrate our stories, it’s gonna be a patsy!”
Tickets are available via Webtickets at R200 each.
venecia.valentine@inl.co.za