A feast of Afrikaans theatre to tuck into at the Vleis, Rys & Aartappels festival at the Baxter.

The Baxter Theatre Centre and Out in Africa are giving away 10 double tickets to the sexy homo-erotic two-hander, Boks, starring heartthrobs Neels van Jaarsveld and Quenton Krog, It is just one of eight productions which make up the Afrikaans theatre feast running at the Baxter Theatre Centre until August 16, presented by the Vleis, Rys & Aartappels company.

If you are an 8333 member, send an email to sharon@oia.co.za and your name will be entered in the draw.

Vleis, Rys & Aartappels is widely regarded as one of South Africa’s most innovative and well-respected theatrical production companies. Their smorgasbord of some of the company’s finest productions to have treaded the boards over the past two years celebrates the best in Afrikaans theatre. Over the two and a half week run, eight different productions will play alternate time slots in both the Theatre and Sanlam Studio venues.

This accomplished production company has become a popular institution at various theatre festivals across the country each year. Due to the immense costs and high risks associated with bringing large-scale theatre productions into being, this is the first time it has been possible to showcase a large corpus of work by the company, established in 2001 by theatre directors Marthinus Basson and Jaco Bouwer and writer/producer Saartjie Botha.

Their chief aim in creating the production house was to maintain a high standard of (predominantly) Afrikaans theatre in South Africa, as well to provide a vessel which would be able to create and promote particularly innovative and culturally and politically relevant theatre pieces. Since its inception, Vleis, Rys & Aartappels has tackled up to 56 productions and theatre projects.

Award-winning journalist and critic, Marianne Thamm, described the company as “undoubtedly the most innovative and prolific theatre production company in the country and although the bulk of its work is performed in Afrikaans, its ethos is broad and inclusive.”

Company highlights over the past seven years include productions of Romeo + Julia by Peter Verhelst, Antjie Krog’s translation (into Afrikaans from Flemish) of Tom Lanoye’s Mamma Medea, Maria de Buenos Aires, Astor Piazzolla’s Tango Operita, and the Botha-penned interpretative play about the life of poet Ingrid Jonker, entitled, Altyd Jonker, which received three Fleur du Cap theatre awards in 2007.

The Vleis, Rys & Aartappels Theatre Festival is stuffed with staple food, soul food and food for thought, offering theatre-lovers a dramatic feast with an irresisible menu of theatrical delights, simultaneously essential and delectable, to choose from.

Theatre bluebloods like Antoinette Kellermann, Marius Weyers and Marthinus Basson join some of the hotttest new talents in South Africa today as they take to the stage to showcase some of the best in Afrikaans theatre.

Standard Bank Young Artist Award-winner, Jaco Bouwer, directs four of the eight plays including the toast of this year’s Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees, Smag, which received the Kanna award for best director and Richard de Jager received the award for best technical achievement for his costume design. Starring Eben Genis, Erica Wessels, Toast Coetzer and Nicola Hanekom, Bouwer’s extraordinary interpretation of British playwright Sarah Kane’s Crave is a verbal incantation about love, loss and hope, beautifully translated by Willem Anker.

Saartjie Botha (playwright) and Jaco Bouwer (director) collaborate in her bilingual multi-media work, Verkeer, with Neels van Jaarsveld, Grant Swanby, Mdu Kweyama and Lorraine Burger. The private thoughts of South Africans caught in traffic jams are brought into the spotlight in this intelligent, entertaining theatre experience.

Bouwer also tackles Botha’s Afrikaans stage version of Antjie Krog’s acclaimed novel, ‘n Ander Tongval (A Change of Tongue) and Saad, with both productions featuring music by Braam du Toit, who also wrote the scores for Smag and Verkeer.

Incorporating a mix of lyrical poetry, razor sharp social commentary, wonderful humour and lingering philosophical questions, ‘n Ander Tongval has been descibed as “a jewel of a play” Nina Swart stars as Krog and Antoinette Kellerman as her mother, writer Dot Serfontein, with Mpho Masilela, Ntobeko Rwanqa, Khwesi Davani, Tesele Kemane and Given Nkosi.

In Saad, well-known director and actor, Marthinus Basson, joins Juanita Swanepoel, Nicole Holm, Stian Bam, Altan Ungerer, Yoliswa Nkolose and Thembeka Sivanjana in a story set in the day when a farmer was a lord and his farm, his kingdom.

Basson directs Marius Weyers, Antoinette Kellerman, Stian Bam, Gustav Gerdener and Nicci Schoeman in ‘n Lang Dagreis na die Nag, an elegant staging of Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer prize-winning family epic, Long Day’s Journey into Night, translated by André P Brink. Kellerman and Bam received the Best Actress and Best Actor awards at this year’s Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn.

Die Joseph and Mary Affair, an award-winning comedy with a good dose of Cape Flats humour and the sexy two-hander Boks are two other diversely dynamic plays directed by Basson.

Euodia Sampson, Charlton Lee George and Brendan Daniels bring to life Malan Steyn and Ilse Oppelt’s hilarious story which takes place during auditions for a nativity play in Die Joseph and Mary Affair. It is an authentically human and relevant look at a society that remains courageous and compassionate despite hardship.

Challenging perceptions and stereotypical notions, hearthrobs Neels van Jaarsveld and Quentin Krog test the limits of friendship, sexuality, masculinity and power in Boks, a translation by Krog and Geon Nel of Richard Zajdlic and Richard Crowe’s Cock and Bull Story. In 2006 Boks was awarded with two Kanna awards at the Klein Karoo Arts Festival – best director for Marthinus Basson and best actor, shared by Krog and Van Jaarsveld.

The sweetheart of the Afrikaans reading community, Audrey Blignault, is honoured in a brand-new programme inspired by her writings and her personal life in Audrey, directed by Wolf Britz, compiled by Saartjie Botha with the help of Petrovna Metlerkamp and performed by Coba-Maryn Wilsenach.

Ticket prices for the Vleis, Rys & Aartappels Theatre Festival vary from R60 to R120 and booking is through Computicket on 083 915 8000 or visit www.baxter.co.za for the full programme or for more information.