| What: I Can’t Speak for Freddy by Alyssa Dionne When and where: Two venues: Where and when: Homecoming Centre,15 Buitenkant Street, District Six: August 18-23, 2026 The Outlore Base, 80 Hout Street: August 25-28, 2026 Bookings: via Quicket: quicket.co.za/events/377644 Website: www.freddy.crd.co Writer: Alyssa Dionne Cast: Alyssa Dionne and Matthew Vey Director: Morné Visser Duration: 50 minutes Presented by: First Light Theatre Co-Producer: Jake Maisel Age advisory: No under 13s. Contains themes of grief, loss and suicide. |
Exciting news is that Alyssa Dionne’s play, I Can’t Speak for Freddy, will be on in August 2026, at two venues in Cape Town. Dionne also performs in the two hander, opposite Matthew Vey. Dionne first garnered attention in 2024, when she was nominated for a Fleur du Cap Award (now called the Cape Theatre Awards), as a student at ACT in Cape Town. I Can’t Speak for Freddy is her first staged play. “The play taps into something universal: how easily we fall in love when we’re young, how quickly we become entangled in someone else’s life, and how, almost without noticing, we begin to reshape ourselves around them,” says director Morné Visser. This season follows a sold-out pilot staging in 2025. Read on for more. Info as supplied:
After a sold-out pilot season, the new South African play by Alyssa Dionne comes to the Homecoming Centre and Outlore Base, August 2026, presented by First Light Theatre Co.
Following a sold-out debut run at The Outlore Base in 2025, I Can’t Speak for Freddy returns by popular demand this August, opening at the Homecoming Centre in District Six from August 18-23 2026. A second, intimate season follows at The Outlore Base from August 25-28, 2026.
Written by and starring Alyssa Dionne opposite Matthew Vey, and directed by Morné Visser, the one-act drama follows a young playwright reflecting on her years in acting school and the intense bond she formed with her closest friend Freddy, a gifted but troubled actor. As ambition collides with vulnerability under the eye of a manipulative head of drama, the boundaries between friendship and love begin to blur. Trust fractures, truths surface, and the weight of unspoken words lingers.
Staged with striking simplicity, a bench, a few blocks, and a lighting design that carries the emotional rhythm of the piece, the production returns with an expanded company and renewed creative intensity.
“The play taps into something universal: how easily we fall in love when we’re young, how quickly we become entangled in someone else’s life, and how, almost without noticing, we begin to reshape ourselves around them,” says director Morné Visser. “Every choice serves the story. What truly anchors the production, though, is the connection between the performers. Their energy feels genuine, unfiltered and unmanufactured, drawing you in and holding you there till the lights go out.”
Reviewing the debut season, Claire Ellenbogen (MLA) called it “a striking piece of contemporary theatre that lingers long after the lights fade,” praising its “rare synthesis of sharp writing, inventive staging, and deeply committed performances.”
The production is produced by Jake Maisel and presented by First Light Theatre Co., a new Cape Town company launching with this season.
About the company
Alyssa Dionne (writer, Andy) is a graduate of ACT Cape Town, where she was nominated for Most Promising Student at the Fleur Du Cap Awards. She appeared in Trouble In Mind at The Baxter Theatre in 2024 and was nominated at the 2026 KKNK for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Nicola Hanekom’s Gebed Van ‘n Halfmens. I Can’t Speak for Freddy marks her writing debut.
Matthew Vey (Freddy) is a Johannesburg-born actor who trained on a full scholarship at the New York Film Academy. He is best known for his role as Michael Sachs in Oliver Hermanus’s Moffie (2019), which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and has since appeared in HBO’s Warrior (Season 3), M-Net’s Summertide, and the feature Invasive (2024).
Morné Visser (director) is an award-winning Cape Town actor, director and producer. He won Best Actor in a TV Drama at the 2023 South African Film and Television Awards for Netflix’s Justice Served, and Best Actor at the 2015 Silwerskerm Film Festival for Dis Ek, Anna. His screen work includes The Harvesters (Cannes, Un Certain Regard selection 2018), The Forgiven opposite Forest Whitaker, Netflix’s The Kissing Booth trilogy, and HBO’s Warrior.
Matthew Vey and Alyssa Dionne in I Can’t Speak for Freddy, written by Dionne. Direction by Morné Visser. Pic: Supplied
✳ Alyssa Dionne and Matthew Vey in I Can’t Speak for Freddy, written by Dionne. Direction by Morné Visser. The two hander is on in Cape Town at the Homecoming Centre, 15 Buitenkant Street, District Six: August 18-23, 2026 and The Outlore Base, 80 Hout Street: August 25-28, 2026. Pic: Supplied. Sponsored feature.
