THERE are few people who can do what Alan Committie does, as successfully. His performance of An Iliad, at the Baxter Flipside until March 14, illustrates his enormous talent for moving between genres and style, and this case, very quickly.
Just a few weeks ago, Committie was doing his annual comedy stand-up, AV-A-LAUGH-TA, at Theatre On The Bay. As soon as An Iliad finishes its Cape Town run, he’s taking AV-A-LAUGH-TA to Joburg, going from funny to dead serious and back to funny in record time. Oh, and during An Iliad rehearsals there were a couple of comedy corporate gigs, just to keep things interesting. “It always takes me at least one performance to iron out the cobwebs and get my mind aligned with comedy speed brain….but by the second and third gig all is good again,” he said, adding that it does help that he’s going into his 30th year of doing standup. Personally I think he’s being very modest.
Just look at his bio. “Alan is best known for starring in and writing his 28 stand-up based one-man shows over the last quarter of a century, including: AV-A-LAUGH-TA, Comedy Gold, Fast and Reasonably Furious, Live and Let Laugh and numerous others. But Committie is also remembered for his starring role in Defending the Caveman (more than 974 performances across South Africa).
“In 2023, Committie was inducted into the Comics Choice Awards Hall Of Fame for his career in comedy.
“Straight theatre performances include the lead roles in Amadeus, Same Time, Next Year, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Producers, Richard III, Oleanna, Noises off, The Merry Widow, Little Shop of Horrors and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
“Committie has also directed numerous theatre projects including My Brilliant Divorce, The Outlaw Muckridge, Offbeat Broadway, The Play that goes Wrong, The Comics Choice Awards and Not the Midnight Mass: 21 Years.
“Committie received two Fleur du Cap best actor awards, for Richard III and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and two Naledi theatre Awards for best comic performance for Stressed to Kill and Live and Let Laugh. He also has a South African Film and Television award (SAFTA) for best supporting actor in Laugh Out Loud.
“Committie is the founder of Gloucester Productions which has produced a number of classic theatre plays including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Richard III, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Same Time Next Year and Amadeus.”
There is no question as to Committie’s versatility and taking on of diverse roles on stage and off. To witness him do this is a joy and a privilege. An Iliad is, simply, based on Homer’s epic poem (15 693 lines in 24 books) about the Trojan War, and a lot of clever people will say clever things about it. In this retelling by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare “poetry and humour, the ancient tale of the Trojan War and the modern world collide in a captivating theatrical experience.”
Thankfully “you don’t need to know Homer. Or to love epics. Just be human,” says director Geoffrey Hyland. “It is immediate, human, darkly funny, brutal and tender.” Because war is tragically timeless, The Poet is condemned to tell this tale until humanity stops fighting. Look how that’s working out.
No scholar of Ancient Greek texts myself, I am more concerned with the performance. Committie, The Poet, tells the tale on an almost bare stage, with a couple of props, yet he brings to life multiple characters without affectation or accents or any of the usual devices we see when one actor must portray many. They are all present, without confusion.
The lighting (Luke Ellenbogen) and sound play their roles in this. It is not overstating it to say Charl Johan Lingenfelder is a genius. He provides the soundscape which perfectly complements Committie’s lines but is never intrusive, even though in this production you can see him working his magic. In the reviews I’ve seen so far, there have been no spoilers, only hints, as to how this is achieved, and I hope it stays that way because the reveal is gasp-inducing and everyone deserves that moment for themself.
But it’s Committie’s performance, his acting, his full involvement in the material, his emotion, his feeling – his commitment – that holds you in thrall for 95 minutes.
To glean a better understanding of what it takes to pull this off, I asked Committie what it was like cycling through such different productions so rapidly. “I suppose I find the idea of varying things, accepting challenges and developing my range exciting so the intention is the starting point,” he said.
“I also think that if you are proficient at playing comedy (stand-up or otherwise) you have a set of principles, techniques and tools that are equally helpful in playing drama. Including sense of pace, variation in pitch, intonation, strong sense of attitude or knowing and understanding ‘beats’ in a text or of a character.
“The closeness of these two projects was coincidental and based on theatre space availability (not choice) so I had to just suck it up and make sure I changed lanes as quickly and efficiently as I could. It helped that the team of An Iliad is so accomplished and inspiring to me (Geoff Hyland directing, Charl Johan Lingenfelder on sound design and Luke Ellenbogen on lighting) so I simply had to up my game and keep up.
“And the text is a delight to sink your teeth into.
“The learning of words is the big thing. When I’m learning my stand-up shows it’s easier because I have written and structured the jokes and routines. I know the thought process that got me from the beginning to the end of each bit. Learning other people’s words is far more challenging. But the same principles apply: Understand what is being said, why it is being said THEN and how it follow on from and leads to next. Then you can make mental connections. Also, mindmaps, acronyms or any other trick to keep it in your head!
“And then simply repetition, repetition, repetition ad nauseum.”
Don’t miss the opportunity to experience sheer theatrical artistry.
Read more here. Booking is at Webtickets online or at Pick n Pay stores. For discounted block bookings, fundraisers and charities, contact Carmen Kearns via email at carmen.kearns@uct.ac.za or on 021 680 3993.
PHOTO CREDIT: Claude Bernado
