Tuesday 2 February 2010

Sunday, 31 January 2o1o:

On Sunday, Masie, Tod & I meet Vice, the dramaturg for the project. He is a young & accomplished playwright who has worked in & around the Market Theatre and was recommended to me by Matjamela, the head of the Lab Theatre at the Market. We have a brief meeting where I explain what has happened so far with the project and where I see the project heading. He is very much in agreement and pleased to be working on the project. He knows well the actors with whom we will be working. He nor I know what we will have in two weeks time, but we are all in agreement that we can work together to fashion a strong piece of work based on the interviews & the chosen Shakespearian quotes.

After that meeting, we make another attempt at sorting our SIM cards, but with no luck. The government has recently introduced a law stating that all purchased SIM cards must be registered to a South African with proof of address. This seems to be in response to the use of mobile phones used in illegaal areas. Noble idea, but tough to accomplish (in any reasonable amount of time). The shop keepers are none too keen to make extra work for themselves and so really don't want to see two obvious foreigners entering their stores looking for SIM cards.

We also begin the major undertaking of booking Masie's & Tod's whirlwind tour of South Africa. Masie has scheduled interviews with Sonny in Durban & Eddie Daniels in Cape Town along with Saths Cooper back in Jo'burg on Friday. Needless to say booking one way tickets is an additional hassle that the attendants at Shoprite seem wary to participate. We are at the shop for almost two hours stringing together 6 one way tickets (Jor' burg to Durban, Durban to Cape Town & Cape Town to Jo'burg). Whew, another example of Masie's extreme patience & my drive to drink.......

Finally accomplished, we head home to another wonderful dinner.