| What: Touché When: December 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 27, 28, 29, 30, 2025 Where: Simon’s Restaurant, Groot Constantia Estate Bookings: https://qkt.io/nsNP4B Tickets: R450 – show – dinner is extra – ala carte Venue enquiries: +27 (0) 21 794 1143 Show time: 8:30pm Dinner from: 6.30pm Running time: 80 minutes (no interval) Ensemble featuring: Oleksii Ishchenko – dancer and aerialist with classical ballet mastery Leda Botha Wright – pole dancer and aerial artist Jennifer Carter – hair-hanging and aerial aerialist Wesley Wolhuter – pianist and cellist weaving live, improvised soundscapes Darryn Braaf – virtuoso jazz violinist Jenna Roll – contemporary and commercial dancer and burlesque artist Bianca Schulz – contemporary and ballet dancer Duane Joaquim – dynamic freestyle dancer and movement artist Nicolette Fernandes – acclaimed musical theatre star, recent lead in We Will Rock You and ensemble of Chicago the Musical |
It was wonderful to see Touché at Simon’s at Groot Constantia hosted and performed by Vanessa Harris and a knockout cast. However, it was also sad and I will tell you why. The last show is tonight, Tuesday December 30, 2025 at 8.30pm. Dinner is served from 6.30pm. There are a few tickets available. I suggest that you grab them. I saw the show on the last weekend of its run and put out a quickie review and clips on social media. Links follow at the end of this review.
It was sad to be at this show as Vanessa Harris – ex Kalk Bay Theatre – says that Touché is her last show as a performer. Let’s hope that she will change her mind. I think this is her best show. She dances (acrobatic and wonderful) and sings – infusing each number with pathos, poignancy and dynamism. Everybody knows that this is too good to end.
Talking of that, Leonard Cohen’s Everybody Knows is how Touché starts – after some fun music walk on music, Where is my husband – by British singer-songwriter Raye. The song was a hit at the 2025 Glastonbury Festival (June) is about looking for a husband. Harris uses a snippet – “Where the hell is my husband …” which sets the scene for this memoir-cabaret.
The stirring version of Everybody Knows is sung by Sigrid. This number as in most of the songs in the show, is overlaid and enhanced by live music by Wesley Wolhuter (pianist and cellist) and Darryn Braaf (jazz violinist). They improvise and braid melody and overlay sound into the backtracks, which riff off the dance, cirque and performance. The sound and dance loops around each other. The performers and musicians cue each other. It levels cirque/cabaret into another category. I have not seen this done in a cabaret/cirque show. Loved. Loved.
Touché feels very Leonard Cohen – intense intimacy with a poignant script, in which Harris shares reflections about the breakup of her marriage – with pathos, hope and dollops of self-deprecation mashed with positivity and affirmation. “Each act is a cabaret representation of the experiences I’ve gone through in the break up”, she reflects. Harris is a fine comedic actress and performer and in Touché, she finesses cabaret with stand-up comedy. In addition to talking about loss and grief, in the finely tuned script, she is very funny. For instance, she waxes lyrical dating as a woman in her 40s – having to get with the technology and terminology.
Touché, is a big show with the amazing cast, musicians, gorgeous lighting, dreamlike sultry with “metaphorical glitter” shining through the grief and heartbreak. Musical theatre star, Nicolette Fernandes voices dissects, amplifies and serenades Harris. “Sprinkle glitter on grief and call it cabaret”. She is therapist, cheerleader and witness. She was the lead in We Will Rock You and ensemble of the recent Chicago the Musical and is utterly captivating in this show – tap dancing, singing and in the role of the omniscient witness.
I loved the Eleanor Rigby set – with striking choreography – theatrical/narrative dance. https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS5NWqYQW/
I was intrigued by Jennifer Carter who is a “hair-hanging and aerial aerialist”. Hanging on the thread of your hair which is emblematic of the vibe of the show. There is a fun audience participation act which involves balloons.
Leda Botha Wright (pole dancer and aerial artist) is mesmerising as a human mirror ball- dangling, sparkling, jagged, fractured. I think that this act conveys a sense of being flummoxed as Harris shares in the show. She wonders if she is “too much”. But like a sparkling mirror ball, Harris ultimately does stop reeling and wraps up with a triumphant Proud Mary.
In addition to those already mentioned – bravo to all: Oleksii Ishchenko (dancer and aerialist with classical ballet mastery), Jenna Roll (contemporary and commercial dancer and burlesque artist), Bianca Schulz (contemporary and ballet dancer) and Duane Joaquim (freestyle dancer and movement artist).
Conceptually and visually, Touché is powerful theatre with sensational dance, an inspired soundtrack mashed up with improv music which innovates cirque/cabaret. I reiterate – everybody knows that this is too good to end. Vanessa Harris – please do not leave the industry. We understand that you need to focus on being a single mom and being there for your children, but please reconsider. You have created an innovative fusion of live improv music with narrative/cabaret, cirque, voice and dance. We want more.
Links to TheCapeRobyn clips from Touché https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS5NWt6Lb/ and https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS5NWqYQW/
❇ Image credits: Touché, TheCapeRobyn/Robyn Cohen December 28, 2025. More images here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/182vjkAGbA/?mibextid=wwXIfr
