Award winning Die reuk van appels in Cape Town premier at Fugard Studio Theatre

Award winning Die reuk van appels in Cape Town premier at Fugard Studio Theatre

Rudi Sadler teamed up with Johan Van Der Merwe to create Theatrerocket Productrions. Since reading the novel Die reuk van appels, Johan dreamt about producing it for stage.
Die reuk van appels is a 1993 debut novel of South African author Mark Behr.

It will be presented by Theatrerocket Productions and adapted to the stage by Johann Smith, which started 07 October until 11 November, performed in Afrkaans with English subtitles. It stars Gideon Lombard and is directed by Lara Bye. It all started with Rudi and his partner Johan, who are both from Pretoria, going to theatre a lot. They both serve on some of the theatre judging panels, that is how they met about a year and a half ago. They both have a love and passion for theatre and have the urge to start creating theatre. When they got together they both had the same dream of creating theatre instead of watching it.

They started talking and drew up a list of the top productions that they would like to see on stage and that is how the company was created. There are challenges in creating something for stage for people to watch and satisfy them, there is hard work that goes into it. "Starting from scratch without any financial backing is hard but very rewarding in the end", says Rudi.
Awards are great for recognition but for them it's about the impact it has on people. The production premiered at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees this year, with Gideon Lombard winning the Best Actor Award at the 2017, Kanna Awards for his role as Marnus. At the recent Aardklop Festival, Lombard was also nominated for the Best Actor Award and Lara Bye was nominated for Best Director.

The whole play is translated to English at the theatre and will be put on screen for the non Afrikaner people to enjoy as well. The feedback from all press and media as been astonishing and received great reviews from highly regarded critics such as, Diane De Beer and Robin Sassen. Die reuk van appels is the coming of age of Marnus Erasmus, 11-year-old son of a South African Defence Force general. It captures the Afrikaner mentality in the late 1970's and early 1980's and the brutal consequences of apartheid and militarization of South African Life.

Sadler and van der Merwe are honored to have two of the country's most respected theatre makers, director Lara Bye and actor Gideon Lombard, to bring the story to life on stage.
It takes a team of creative people to take something as powerful as the novel and bring it to life on stage.

Tickets for the preview on Tuesday cost R130; Wednesday R155 and Thursday to Saturday tickets cost R165. Bookings may be made through Computicket on 0861 915 8000, online at www.computicket.com or at any Shoprite Checkers outlet. Booking can also be made at the Fugard Theatre box office on 021 461 4554. There is a generous 15% discount for friends of the Fugard members. Harrignton Street car park is located at the croner of Caledon and Harrighton streets and is available for the use of theatre patrons.

Presenters and Producers: Khusi Veto
Co-Hosts: Michaela Muller, Tyler Layman and Denise Paterson