……BILLY SUTER……
RING your calendar and clap your hands – one of theatre icon Paul Slabolepszy’s most celebrated stage plays, the award-winning solo work, The Return of Elvis du Pisanie, now with Ashley Dowds in the title role, will have three performances in Durban soon.
The play, originally performed by Slabolepzsy in 1992, will be presented at the Seabrooke’s Theatre at Durban High School, on the Berea, at 7pm on Friday and Saturday, May 8 and 9, and 2.30pm on Sunday, May 10.
Great news is that SoSuterBill has two tickets to give away to the opening night in Durban, at 7pm on Friday, May 8. See the end of this post for competition entry details.
Slabolepszy’s timeless tale of laughter and loss is a masterfully told story which moves from pure nostalgia, through extreme heartache, to unbridled joy. It is vintage work which has now been given a new lease on life by Ashley Dowds in what has been declared as an exhilarating and career-defining performance.
Dowds, in The Return of Elvis du Pisanie, was nominated for the 2025 Naledi Theatre Awards for Best Performance in a Solo Production. and for the 2024 Woordtrofees in the category: Best Achievement: Solo.
Who would believe that a simple act of switching on a car radio could change the course of your life? So it does for 49-year-old East Rand salesman, Eddie du Pisanie, who is washed up, retrenched and suicidal. He decides life is no longer worth living and writes a farewell note to his wife, before planning to gas himself inside his car in the garage…. when he switches on the car radio.
The Elvis Presley song he hears does more than take him back 30 years – it recalls an event in his childhood that changed his life forever. Abandoning – for the moment – the idea of suicide, he drives the 200 km journey to Witbank, the town in which he grew up, and ends up opposite the former Carlton bioscope, alongside a streetlamp.
Is it possible to change our own destinies? Can one retrace the past to reignite the present? Can longing overcome despair? “Elvis” du Pisanie is about to find out….
“If you are looking for a night of raw emotion, side-splitting humour and a healthy dose of nostalgia then The Return of Elvis du Pisanie is a must-see,” wrote reviewer Georg Knoke of a play that has been touring the country. Knoke adds: “Dowds’s performance is electrifying and Paul Slabolepszy’s script remains as sharp and relevant as ever. Don’t miss this chance to see a South African gem brought to life by a truly amazing actor”.
Writer-director Slabolepszy was a founder member of the Space Theatre Company in Cape Town in 1972, and the Market Theatre Company in Johannesburg in 1975. He is a writer, director and actor who he has appeared in more than 250 stage and television plays and films. He has numerous acting awards, and for his role as Eddie in The Return of Elvis du Pisanie, he became the first actor in the country to win three Best Actor awards across the country.
Ashley Dowds is an acclaimed, Cape Town-based film, TV and stage actor and voice artist familiar to home audiences for his performances in such hits as Binnelanders, Isidingo, Scandal, Generations and Soul Buddies.
Note that lovers of the work of Slabolepszy, can create a mini-festival to honour the great playwright and also enjoy his production,Bitter Winter, at Durban’s Playhouse over the same weekend, May 8 and 9.
Directed by Lesedi Job, Bitter Winter brings together a seasoned stage legend and a rising TV star as they collide at an audition for a major film. What begins as rivalry unfolds into a layered story of humour, vulnerability and unexpected connection.
The play features André Odendaal (as aging actor Jean-Louis Lourens), Oarabile Ditsele (as rising star Prosper Mangane) and Chantal Stanfield (as casting agent Felicia Willemse).
Tickets for both The Return of Elvis du Pisanie and Bitter Winter are available via Webtickets. Note that guarded parking and a bar/snack service are available at the Seabrooke’s Theatre.
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WIN TWO SHOW TICKETS… WIN TWO SHOW TICKETS…
Care to put yourself in line to win TWO TICKETS to the 7pm Friday, May 8, opening performance of Ashley Dowds in Paul Slabolepszy’s excellent, The Return of Elvis Du Pisanle, at the Seabrooke’s Theatre at Durban High School?
You simply have to be a follower of the SoSuterBill site to win. At no cost.
If you are not already a follower, click on the word ‘…..SoSuterBill…..’ that appears under Billy Suter’s face on the red curtain at the top of this post. Next, scroll down a little and leave your email address in the blank space alongside the ‘Subscribe Free’ banner. You will then be a follower, and receive email notification whenever a new story is filed on the site.
Once you have subscribed (there is no cost), send your NAME and PHONE NUMBER via email (NOT THIS SITE’S CONTACT FORM) to sosuterbill@gmail.com and place the words ‘ELVIS DUPISANIE GIVEAWAY’ in the subject field.
Note that the competition closes at 6pm on Saturday, April 25, and the winner will be contacted soon after. His/her name will be posted in this spot thereafter.
Also note that tickets may not be exchanged for another performance and that the prize is for tickets only (not travel and/or accommodation should this prove necessary).
NOTE: PLEASE READ ENTRY DETAILS CAREFULLY AS SOME PEOPLE ARE ENTERING COMPETITIONS INCORRECTLY.
ALSO NOTE THAT ONLY ONE ENTRY PER SUBSCRIBER WILL BE CONSIDERED.
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.....SoSuterBill..... 