Pemads is marking its annual Twelfth Night awards ceremony this weekend with a production of Dinner for One starring Linda-Louise Swain and Leslie Speyers at the Little Theatre.
After his successful direction of the pantomime Sinbad, the Sailor in December, Speyers steps into the hilarious role of James the butler, with Swain as Miss Sophie in a traditional new year presentation of the comic two-hander.
Mary Nelson is in the director's chair of Dinner for One, staged as a tribute to her husband Albert Nelson who passed away in early 2018.
"Mary and Albert returned to Port Elizabeth at the beginning of 2018 and Albert and I had just spoken about re-staging our first ever production of Dinner for One as a fundraiser for Animal Anti-Cruelty League. Mary had directed the two of us in this fun production many, many years ago,” Swain said.
“Sadly, it was shortly thereafter that Albert was diagnosed with cancer and he passed away very suddenly. We wanted to stage this production in his memory and as a tribute to all that he and Mary have done for our Pemads Little Theatre.
“For those not able to attend the awards ceremony, there will be another performance as a fundraiser for AACL at the Victoria Park Bowling Club at 7pm on January 26.”
The Pemads awards pay tribute not only to performers but also to backstage workers, lighting and sound technicians, directors and all those involved in its three 2018 productions, namely: Rent, the Musical, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Sinbad.
Committee awards recognise fields other than performance and a panel of judges awards all other trophies. The judges for 2018 are Anne Hobson, Mariette van der Walt and Greg Everard, who are school drama teachers in the city, and involved in staging major school productions.
In addition to the awards and play, Sandi-Lee Osborne, who recently returned to PE, will sing.
And in moving its annual awards away from its traditional Twelfth Night date of January 6, Pemads has, unlike the characters in Dinner for One, not opted for the “same procedure as every year”.
“It’s actually going to be on January 12 this year because we found that having it on the traditional Twelfth Night a lot of the recipients of the awards could not make it,” Swain said. “Half of the time we had trophies we couldn’t hand out!”
The awards night (and play) on Saturday are open to the public, at 6.30 for 7pm, at the theatre in Athol Fugard (formerly Belmont) Terrace.
Tickets will be on sale at the door at R30 per person at the Box Office from 6pm, and this includes snacks after the ceremony. The bar will be open.
Membership forms will be available on awards night for those who are interested in becoming a member of the society.
Tickets for Dinner for One on January 26 are R65 each, on sale through Hilary on WhatsApp, 083-635-6995.
Dinner for One
Dinner for One, also known as The 90th Birthday, is a two-hander comedy sketch, recorded in black and white in 1963 in Germany (in English).
The 18-minute video, filmed in one take, stars Freddie Frinton as James the butler and May Warden as his mistress Miss Sophie.
Since then, the skit has become a New Year’s Eve television tradition in many in German-speaking countries, where up to half the population may watch it every year on New Year's Eve.
Some viewers even copy the four-course meal James serves to Miss Sophie and her four invisible “guests” .
With its humorous antics and visual gags, it has become the most frequently repeated programme ever, with South Africa among the countries where it is regularly screened on December 31.