| What: Rouge – variety, comedy, cirque, burlesque When: Booking until February 8, 2026 (selected nights) at 8.30pm – start times may vary so check Where: Kalk Bay Theatre at Brass Bell Restaurants & Pubs, Main Rd, Kalk Bay Tickets: R350 and R24.72 booking fee (Does not include cost of a meal at Brass Bell) Booking: Quicket – go via Kalk Bay Theatre website at http://www.kalkbaytheatre.co.za or if you get stuck, WhatsApp on 066 205 5063 Featuring: Ashley Searle, Brad Searle, Jessica Kohler, Ruby Burton, Line Jordaan, Tamsyn Dexter and Liam Gillespie Choreography: Ash Searle Good to know: Those who dine at the Brass Bell in its Theatre Restaurant on the Captain’s Deck, get preferential seats Parking: The best parking lot is the one opposite the Wetsuit Warehouse. Alex is the car guard, and if you can’t find parking, he will valet park your car Age restriction: No under 18s |
I’m pretty sure Leonardo Da Vinci would have felt quite chuffed at the nod to his Vitruvian Man/Omega symbol lighting set at the Kalk Bay Theatre’s latest show Rouge. Streamlined, elegant and effective. The dancing, as usual, is fantastic. The Omega lighting design frames the set lighting. It’s all about angular velocity and resistance. But the Vitruvian Man is also brilliantly inverted in one act that had the audience gasping as a human figure masked (upside down) moved like Gregor from Kafka’s metamorphosed bad night at home. Slightly inebriated as we all were (please – this is the Brass Bell) it held us riveted. The performer in that act is the sensational Jessica Kohler. Here is a teaser: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSINUs9gdN1/ and https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSPnho4Yk/
Rouge is the most sophisticated staging that I have seen at the KBT. The horseshoe contraption opening facilitates seamless and exciting transitions between sets with performers exiting and entering. A huge amount of work has gone into crafting the show – set, costumes, choreography.
Rouge is polished and slick and mashes up the KBT’s signature festive fare of variety, comedy, cirque and burlesque. There is a lot of burlesque so this is definitely not a show for the kidlets. The acrobatic elements are jaw droopingly fabulous and Ash Searle gets the laughs going as emcee. I love the champagne glass set. Wait for the end. As always there is a great vibe at the venue, with people partying afterwards, having a drink and gazing at the ocean, which wraps around the theatre. It is sublime.
As I write this, December 22, there are no tickets available for Rouge at the Kalk Bay Theatre, until December 29 and then there are only twenty tickets for that performance. The show is booking until February 8, 2026 and gauging from the run so far, the house will be filled to capacity. As always, the KBT delivers a fantastic evening of entertainment. It is destination theatre on the site of iconic the Brass Bell Restaurant and Pubs. There is an option of dining before at the Bell on the Captain’s Deck in the dedicated Theatre Restaurant section. Diners get preferential seating in the theatre. It goes like this: Arrive nice and early for dinner. Select your seats in the theatre. Head to dinner and then it is a nice stroll, after dinner to the theatre.
✳ Rouge, Kalk Bay Theatre, Cape Town, 2025/2026 festive season show. Pic: Robyn Cohen/TheCapeRobyn.
