![\"3pigs\"](\"http:\/\/thegremlin.co.za\/oudtshoorn-news\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/3pigs-220x146.jpg\")
Darkly cynical comedy Three Little Pigs is the result of a meeting of minds (and watching way too much crime thriller TV series) between director Tara Notcutt and artists Rob van Vuuren, James Cairns and Albert Pretorius and, oh boy, is it taking them places, writes Theresa Smith<\/p>\n
THE ENGAGING quartet has just returned from Perth, Australia, where they played at the State Theatre Centre as part of the Fringe World Festival.<\/p>\n
They were invited to Perth as part of the World Fringe Alliance\u2019s creative exchange programme and are already planning their trips to Edinburgh as part of The Assembly\u2019s line-up, Amsterdam and the US. Plus, they have just been awarded best production for Woordfees in Stellenbosch and completed a run in Oudtshoorn at the KKNK.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving toured, I must say Grahamstown rocks the party,\u201d said Tara Notcutt of the National Arts Festival. It\u2019s turning into her favourite arts festival \u201cbecause it\u2019s so organised, and the people are so welcoming\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a foreigner they make sure you\u2019re sorted. Like, the Australians who came out last year were blown away by how helpful everyone was, and the level of support they received.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, at some places the technical people are young, but they\u2019re capable. It\u2019s not to say that other places are incompetent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I say I\u2019m getting ready for Grahamstown and people say \u2018but it\u2019s so cold\u2019, I don\u2019t care, it\u2019s awesome. The more I see, the more I appreciate the work we have here,\u201d said Notcutt.<\/p>\n
Next year the plan is to play New York City and we can do more, like including Boston, Notcutt tells Rob van Vuuren as he sits down.<\/p>\n
We are meeting to talk about the new show he is planning for this year\u2019s National Arts Festival, but it\u2019s hard not to talk about their success with Three Little Pigs which will be reprised at this year\u2019s festival and will tour the world until at least August next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were not prepared for the way Three Little Pigs blew up,\u201d said Notcutt.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit overwhelming, actually. It\u2019s just because so much has come from it, so many opportunities. I\u2019ve never been in a show with so many legs,\u201d said Van Vuuren.<\/p>\n
Unlike some of the other successful work he has been involved in, Three Little Pigs needed minimal tweaking since its debut on the Arena programme in Grahamstown last year. Though, to be fair, it did take quite a bit of work on their part to create it in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis we wrote as a play and it turned out to be awesome. We\u2019re still pinching ourselves,\u201d continued Van Vuuren.<\/p>\n
He has helped to start a stand-up night on Mondays at TriBakery in Cavendish Mall, which is why we\u2019re meeting at the venue.<\/p>\n
Van Vuuren roped Notcutt in to help out on the admin side \u2013 she\u2019s good at it \u2013 but he had ulterior motives. He wanted to expose her to stand-up so they could work together on his next production, which will be called What What.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s spent the past two years doing more straight stand-up, after having done physical theatre with multiple characterisation for several years.<\/p>\n
Right now he\u2019s deliberately stepping away from both, trying to experiment with something new: \u201cI want to do something a little fresh, a lot more theatrical, written to a theme.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s looking for something with physical virtuosity \u201cmeaning the execution, the amount of work that goes into creating a scene\u2026like a high-end picture in your mind that is created by how physical the creator becomes\u201d.<\/p>\n
While he loves the delivery of stand-up he wants to surprise the audience with a more theatrical and emotive element.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to bring stand-up to a new level. I guess that sounds insulting to stand-up, but no, that\u2019s not what I mean. I love changing up on myself and I\u2019ve never worked with a director on stand-up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Vuuren is interested in upping the level of respect audiences and management display towards stand-up comedians as artists now that he\u2019s become intimately aware of just how difficult an art form it really is: \u201cIt is one of the most terrifying things\u2026 it\u2019s a particular performance, a particular knife\u2019s edge that you walk every night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cComing from a theatrical background I didn\u2019t know much about stand-up. It\u2019s the most naked you can get as a performer. It\u2019s just you on the stage, trying to make people laugh,\u201d Notcutt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou become much more aware of the creative aspect of it, the mechanics of the gags,\u201d said Van Vuuren.<\/p>\n
So, between now and the end of June when they travel to Grahams-town, don\u2019t be too surprised if you see these two furiously scribbling away at a table at TriBakery on a Monday evening.<\/p>\n
![\"Share](\"http:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share.png\")
<\/a>