Latest news with #NikolaiGogol
IOL News
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- IOL News
Must-see theatre productions in Cape Town this week
Bizo Maxegwana in 'Diary of a Madman'. Image: Facebook. Diary of a Madman This play is an adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's classic tale that brings the story to life in modern-day Cape Town. Thabo Kani, a parliamentary secretary played by award-winning actor Bizo Maxegwana, becomes convinced he's destined for greatness, leading to comedic chaos as he navigates the complexities of power and sanity. When: Tuesday, July 15, until Saturday, July 19. Show times differ Where: The Masambe Theatre at the Baxter Theatre Centre. Blood & Silver This powerful adaptation of Jan Glazewski's memoir, 'One Map. One Promise. A Life Redefined', tells the epic story of Jan's journey from his childhood struggles with haemophilia to his determination to survive against all odds. He survives his childhood only to face new challenges as a young adult, including a contaminated blood transfusion and an HIV diagnosis and embarks on a perilous journey in search of the long-lost family treasure, armed with his father's hand-drawn map. The play stars David Muller and Fred Abrahamse. When: Runs until Saturday, July 12. Show times differ, depending on the day. Where: The Masambe Theatre at the Baxter Theatre Centre. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat A production of the beloved musical bursts with vibrant energy, dazzling choreography and unforgettable songs. Created by the legendary duo Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, this fresh staging promises to captivate audiences of all ages with its talented cast and fresh creative vision. Leading the cast is Dylan Janse van Rensburg, alongside powerhouse vocalist Lelo Ramasimong as the narrator and Chris Jaftha as Pharaoh. When: Runs until Sunday, July 13. Show times differ. Where: Theatre on the Bay in Camps Bay.
What's On
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- What's On
9 things to do in Dubai this Islamic New Year weekend: June 27 to 29
This Islamic New Year long weekend in Dubai is packed with exciting events and activities for everyone. From live music and cultural shows to shopping festivals and family outings, here's your day-by-day guide to what's on across the city. I Friday, June 27 Guess the vibe at Eva Fashion brand GUESS is taking over Eva Beach Restaurant and if you're a fan of this brand, you'll need to head down to experience the sunbeds, cabanas, and even the Eva Beach Restaurant adorned with the iconic GUESS monogram. Grab a gorgeous cocktail and take in the beach views while you're surrounded by luxury fashion. Location: Eva Beach Restaurant, West Palm, Palm Jumeirah Contact: 04 510 4800 Try a brand new ladies night This Friday night Greek-inspired Ladies Night at Veranda JLT offers a laid-back luxe vibe paired with bold Mediterranean flavours, a killer playlist, and unbeatable value. Enjoy a delicious menu featuring spanakopita, lamb kontosouvli, and fresh Greek salad, all served in an elegant, effortlessly cool setting, perfect for chic Islamic New Year weekend plans in Dubai. Location: Veranda, JLT, Dubai Offer: Dhs150 for 1 starter, 1 main & 4 drinks (fine wines + signature cocktails) Contact: @verandajlt Catch a play Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector is a razor-sharp satire that skewers corruption, exposes absurdity, and delivers laughs in every scene. The plot follows a case of mistaken identity and a town full of corrupt, greedy officials. Comedy and satire combined – what more do you need. Location: The Junction, Alserkal Avenue Offer: Dhs120 per ticket Times: June 27 to 29, 7pm to 10pm Contact: (0) 4 338 8525 @cinemaakil Saturday, June 28 Do dinner and a show Looking for a high-energy night out this weekend? Gatsby Dubai has just the ticket. It's a 1920s-inspired spectacle packed with top DJs, dazzling performances, and immersive entertainment. With free entry, bottle service tables, and no minimum spend, it's the ultimate way to turn up the heat indoors while staying cool. Location: Gatsby Dubai, Business Bay Date: Wednesday to Sunday 9pm to 3am Contact: +971 4 554 9418 | reservations@ @ Go on an overnight adventure This all-inclusive overnight desert safari is a UAE staycation must. Camp out in a deluxe tent on a raised platform with a world of amenities and experiences to complete your stay. Included in the package is a thrilling dune drive, camel ride, walking night safari, waiter service, set menu BBQ dinner and more. Location: Dubai Desert Offer: Starts from Dhs1,790 Contact: ( 800) 272 2426 @arabianadventures Attend a free concert Kick off the long weekend with the official launch of Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) at City Centre Mirdif. This family-friendly evening of live music brings two major regional acts to the stage for a free concert that celebrates the start of Dubai's most exciting summer season. Rock out with Jadal at 7:20pm, then sing along to Al Shami's heartfelt hits at 9pm — all in the mall's Central Galleria. Location: Central Galleria, City Centre Mirdif Offer: Free live concert Contact: Sunday, June 29 Catch an art exhibition Sunrise At The Vortex, the second solo exhibition by artist Nima Nabavi on display at The Third Line, features a selection of new works made by the artist between 2022 and 2025. The pieces are rooted in his travels to sites across the world considered to be energy centers by different communities. A visit here is a great idea for this Islamic New year weekend in Dubai. Location: The Third Line, Alserkal Avenue Offer: Free entry Times: Until July 27, daily, 11am to 7pm Contact: ( 0) 4 341 1367 @thethirdlinedxb Try a croissant pizza Papa Johns is elevating the pizza experience with the launch of its all-new Croissant Pizza, a delicious fusion of flaky, buttery croissant layers and bold, classic Papa Johns flavours. You can now be some of the first to try it, as it has only launched in the UAE so far. Location: Papa Johns locations across Dubai Offer: New Croissant Pizza now available at participating outlets Contact: 600 520001 @papajohnsuae Pair wine with your Sunday A cosy little wine bar tucked beside McGettigan's in Souk Madinat Jumeirah, 1964 feels like a quiet break from the usual. Named after the year the first McGettigan's opened in Ireland, it's an intimate spot with a waterside terrace, low lights, and an easy wine list. There's a daily deal that gets you three glasses and nibbles – including some seriously good olives. Does this tickle your fancy? Get more wine pairing inspo here. Location: 19 Sixty Four by McGettigan's, Souk Madinat Jumeirah Offer: 'Beginner's Guide To Wine' daily promotion – 3 selected wines plus nibbles for Dhs129. Times: Daily from 12pm to 2am Contact: (0)56 548 1652 @1964bymcgettigans
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Theater review: Yale Rep's ‘The Inspector' is a feast for the eyes and the funny bone
Yale Repertory Theatre's production of 'The Inspector' — aka Nikolai Gogol's 'Revizor' — could be so meaningful to so many different people that you could get smothered in its many layers if director Yura Kordonsky and the dozen actors didn't unfold it all so carefully and clear. Let us inspect the ways. First, it's a design feast. Snow and soot are constant throughout the 2 1/2 hours the audience spends in the Russian village where the play is set. The elements extend so it seems slushy and grubby at the base of the stage as well. Scenic designer Silin Chen uses the scuffed, stained backstage brick walls of the theater to frame the wintry image. The effect is of a show sliding into reality and back into dystopian fantasy. That is kind of what Gogol's play does as well. It's routinely called a satire, but the play's brilliant ending wants to make clear that the story's seemingly farcical levels of corruption and power abuse aren't really fiction and just need someone to report on it and stand up against it. The character who does that in 'The Inspector' is Ivan Khlestakov, and he's no hero. He's a kind of a high-maintenance drifter, accompanied by a servant named Osip, a gambler and trickster who's trying to replenish his fortunes when he gets the fortune of all: He gets mistaken for somebody else. The mayor and his cronies in the village have heard that an inspector is on the way to examine their accounts and procedures. They think Khlestakov is that inspector. He gets to see their corruption and duplicity firsthand, mostly because when they offer him special favors and bribes, he's happy to take them. Yale Rep tackles timeless Russian political comedy 'The Inspector' with youthful cast and new ideas Nobody is pure in 'The Inspector,' not even the driven snow. The comedy has a consistency: Everyone is guilty, everyone is needy and everyone is a little foolish and desperate. Every character has their own barely logical justification for why they need to steal from others, or lie to others, or lie to themselves. Director Yura Kordonsky, born in Russia and trained as a director by those who had been trained by Konstantin Stanislavski, has also been teaching theater in Connecticut for the past quarter century, first at Wesleyan University and for the past decade at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. He brings both an innate understanding of Russian theater and a sense of what works best at a university-based professional regional theater like the Yale Rep. The Geffen School shares that breadth of knowledge and technique. Nearly 30 years ago, the drama school sent students to Russia to collaborate on a production of 'Revizor' with students and teachers at the St. Petersburg Academy of Dramatic Arts. The collaboration, which had a few public performances at the Yale Rep in 1997, was eye-opening and mind-expanding in how American and Russian styles came together, but it did not have the expansive design and stylistic consistency that defines this new version. Kordonsky has cast actors whom he knew when they were his students at Yale. Since they had all been through the same classes, it's a sort of shorthand for making them a tight ensemble despite limited rehearsal time. The director sets some difficult fast/slow rhythms, and scenes shift from loud to soft-spoken. The cast members are able to maneuver them while still each bringing some individual spark to the production. As the mayor, Brandon E. Burton is amusingly unprepared for all the snap decisions he must make, but he smartly comes off as agitated rather than dimwitted. Elizabeth Stahlmann plays the mayor's wife Anna as flirtatious and vain but not a pitiable manner. She's strong and direct. As Marya, the daughter of Ann and the mayor, Chinna Palmer has to be a romantic ingenue in a story where true romance is impossible. She finds a path where she is both romantic and funny, and also avoids being the underdeveloped, underplayed love-object which Marya too often is in other productions. Samuel Douglas plays Khlestakov as cocksure and greedy, too clever for his own good, adding to the suspense of whether he gets away with his deceit or gets his comeuppance. Osip is presented in both Kordonsky's adaptation and in Nomè SiDone's upstanding, unflappable performance as an example of how noble and immensely capable people get crushed by racist or status-based societies. Almost nobody plays stupid or cartoonishly out of it. These are social stereotypes, but it's also within the realm of possibility that the doctor (Grayson Richmond) has medical knowledge or that the school superintendent (John Evans Reese) has visited a school. 'The Inspector' avoids a lot of easy dumb jokes that would weaken the production and undercut its sharp satire. It does, however, welcome a lot of wacky comedy gags when they are appropriate. There's a physical comedy bit with an untied boot that goes on so long you marvel at it as if it were a circus act. As the message-bearing townsfolk Piotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky and Piotr Ivanovic Dobchinsky, Edoardo Benzoni and Malik James are an inspired comedy duo, interrupting each other and taking their speech habits to ridiculous extremes. They do so not in a classic Abbott and Costello style that would get tiresome quickly but in ways they sneak up on you. Kordonsky's adaptation is leisurely in its staging but has been cut and shaped very precisely. The director has made two great innovations. The youthful cast helps streamline the satire so that government corruption is simply a fact of life and not something that only older, settled people fall into it. The play is also cut so that, while the lower class denizens of this downtrodden village are mentioned constantly, they're not really seen, heightening the interactions among the town's swindling leaders and their swindling faux-inspector guest. Gogol's play seldom goes out of fashion. If there's a governmental system near you that you don't like, you'll be bolstered by this knowing, winking comedy. But the Yale Rep isn't content with just uttering anti-authoritarian tropes from 1846. 'The Inspector' has a wondrous, slippery, sooty scene design. It has a cast of fresh comic/dramatic talents encouraged to try new things. It has the lived-in appeal of a show that takes its time and gets you comfortable in its crazed environment. And unlike its corrupt characters, the production stands up powerfully under close inspection, especially in how it draws out all types of laughter. 'The Inspector,' adapted and directed by Yura Kordonsky, runs through March 29 at the Yale Repertory Theatre, 1120 Chapel St., New Haven. Remaining performances are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., with a matinee at 2 p.m. on March 29. $15-$65.
