| What: To Life, With Love by Mike van Graan Featuring: John Maytham Director: Josh Lindberg When: August 12-30, 2025 Where: Societas Theatre, Cape Town,in the hall of the NGK Church, 55 Kloof Street, Gardens Bookings: Quicket. Age restriction: No under 13s For more information or to use the show for fundraising or educational purposes, contact Mike van Graan at 0829003349 or email art27m@iafrica.com. Also see https://mikevangraan.co.za |
𝗝𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐦 𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗼 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲, 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗠𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗮𝗻, 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗝𝗼𝘀𝗵 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗴 is on at Societas Theatre, a pop-up theatre in the hall of the NGK Church, 55 Kloof Street, Gardens. August 12-30, 2025.
Can we talk about illness, end of life plans/wishes – and life? Mike van Graan navigates uncomfortable territory with care and insight through his protagonist Thomas Faulkner. Thomas deals with his own mortality, serenaded by the Melancholy Sisters: Loneliness, Emptiness and Sadness. Love that.
I saw the play in February [2025] and was very moved and seeing it again, now, August 2025, the narrative has deepened. The venue – a church hall – heightens the sense of the play being an offering – the invitation to somehow – transcend the noise and fury of the Melancholy Sisters: Loneliness, Emptiness and Sadness – and aging.
End of life …. Well, when you are in it and there is a plea to die? “How easy it is to wear your trite beliefs when you are not the one in pain”, asks Thomas. Yeah. Exactly. The loneliness of illness is utterly debilitating – for the person who is ill and caregivers/loved ones. And then how does one deal with one’s own dread in facing up to one’s own story?
John Maytham pours himself into Thomas as he presents his living testament- an affirmation of resilience and hope. This is not John Maytham’s story. Thomas is a fictional character but it feels “real”, a “true” story. Truth and reality are conjured up through the alchemy of theatre.
In my first review of this play, in February, I wrote that Thomas prowls across the stage. That still holds but in this run of the play, the chairs transcend props and become potent markers of absence and presence of loved ones – memories and shared experiences -well, that is my interpretation. The chairs vividly evoke the spectre of dementia- with a person being there physically-but not there. Josh Lindberg’s direction has extended the emotional thrust of the text – elevating it beyond issue play.
Van Graan deftly weaves into the text, realities of the economics of long haul illness. Having access to medical aid and care is another story. The bequest of Apartheid lingers. Sure not all whiteys are well off but undoubtedly generational privilege holds considerable sway in our unequal society. The financial cost of long term illness and aging is staggering and Maytham as Thomas – conveys that palpably – flummoxed – stunned – grief stricken. The terror of diagnosis, the unknowing of what you now know -was present in the first production – and has now been heightened. Beyond “dealing” with dementia, scary cancer diagnoses and the call-out to be attuned to end-of-life wishes, 𝗧𝗼 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲, 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲 is a love story – to love – to cherish life – while we can.
✳ John Maytham in To Life, With Love by Mike van Graan. Photo: Bronwyn Lloyd. Supplied.
