CAPE TOWN OPERA'S
Hänsel und Gretel
Cape Town Opera presents Hänsel und Gretel composed by Engelbert Humperdinck. Directed by Alessandro Talevi, with set and costume design by Roger Ballen and Marguerite Rossouw, and lighting design by Kobus Rossouw. Featuring the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kazem Abdullah, with performances by Ané Pretorius as Hänsel, Brittany Smith as Gretel, Janelle Visagie and Martin Mkhize as the children’s parents, and Bongiwe Nakani as the Knusperhexe.
Together with Marguerite Rossouw (his creative collaborator for the last 14 years)
and lighting designer Kobus Rossouw, Ballen will bring his trademark aesthetic to a
theatre stage for the first time in this production. Dubbed ‘Ballenesque’ by art critics,
Ballen’s visual language is rooted in symbolic representations of decay, poverty, chaos,
internal animal impulses, mental anguish and entrapment. It is a visual universe
which blurs fact and fantasy, dream and reality, fiction and documentary – and
an aesthetic which is now recognised by millions across the globe through Ballen’s
collaborations with Die Antwoord. “What’s important for us is that – whether we
are working with Die Antwoord or working with this opera – we want our fingerprint,
our aesthetic, to integrate with the narrative and expand it,” says Ballen. “We want
to create a new aesthetic out of an old aesthetic.”
and lighting designer Kobus Rossouw, Ballen will bring his trademark aesthetic to a
theatre stage for the first time in this production. Dubbed ‘Ballenesque’ by art critics,
Ballen’s visual language is rooted in symbolic representations of decay, poverty, chaos,
internal animal impulses, mental anguish and entrapment. It is a visual universe
which blurs fact and fantasy, dream and reality, fiction and documentary – and
an aesthetic which is now recognised by millions across the globe through Ballen’s
collaborations with Die Antwoord. “What’s important for us is that – whether we
are working with Die Antwoord or working with this opera – we want our fingerprint,
our aesthetic, to integrate with the narrative and expand it,” says Ballen. “We want
to create a new aesthetic out of an old aesthetic.”
South African-born director Talevi will lead a world-class team in a production which
promises to embrace the darker resonances of the fairy tale. Maestro Kazem Abdullah
returns to CTO to conduct the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (following his
acclaimed debut for the company with Maria Stuarda in 2018). The production stars
Ané Pretorius as Hänsel, Brittany Smith as Gretel, Janelle Visagie as the Mother,
Martin Mkhize as the Father, and Bongiwe Nakani as the Witch (returning to South
Africa fresh from her successes at the Wiener Staatsoper).
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