Going Solo is an international theatre festival that has handpicked two riveting performers from the renowned Edinburgh Fringe Theatre Festival, who like to have the stage to themselves
“In India, I have done four performances till now and got four standing ovations,” shares the unassuming actor Pip Utton, a one-time jeweller. The 61-year-old actor has charmed the audience by playing Adolf Hitler, Francis Bacon, Charles Dickens and the Hunchbank of Notre Dame, among others.
Pip Utton as Adolf Hitler
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Utton plans to storm the city’s audiences with his solo acts of Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill. An alternative narrative from Jailoshini Naidoo, a South African Indian who has played 38 characters at a time, will complement him. “It’s been 20 years that I have been doing this but I still get jittery where sometimes, I wake up at night wondering where will I get my next performance from; yet I never want to retire from acting,” confides Utton.
Jailoshini Naidoo
Naidoo has a similar trajectory where she couldn’t resist being on stage although she was a teacher. “I was part of the drama department and more often than not was rehearsing about being on stage. Eventually, I plunged into everything and there was no looking back.” In contrast, Utton cannot judge Churchill but still describes him as “fiendishly funny”.
Naidoo, a TV hostess and stand-up comedian, informs that her pieces are based on Ronnie Govender’s short stories who explores how migrant Indians had an in-between status as opposed to blacks and whites. Her great grandparents were indentured labourers. At the Edge speaks of a designated area for Cato Manor where camaraderie bound most Indians but was displaced during the 1960s in the shadow of apartheid.
On: October 19–21, 7 pm and 8.30 pm
At: Sophia Auditorium, Bhulabhai Desai Road.
Log on to: www.goingsolo.in
Cost: Rs 300, Rs 500 and Rs 750
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