A Man called Rolex

Somewhere in Eastern Europe, before the collapse! A play about a megalomaniac dictator, an artist who sells his soul, a young woman’s unlimited love, about a boisterous extended family of music lovers, and about a boy who grows up in lonely misery to become a cynical officer with the secret police. A play about a fall from greatness. British director Alex Byrne of the NIE-Theatre and the music-theatre company Batida have joined forces to send us on this amazing journey into a not very distant past.

COMMENDATIONS

2015: Performing at the Festival Internacional De La Havana, Cuba.

2014: Performing at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa, winning the prestigious Silver Ovation Award.

2014: Performing at ASSITEJ’s World Congress in Warsaw, Poland.

REVIEWS

“Gypsy women offering us shots of vodka at the door just as the weather is turning from cold to icy is not only a welcome gesture but a sign we’re in for a rollicking ride. The thumping Balkan beat played live by the cast complete with granny on tuba and a wheelchair-bound uncle replete in dirty underpants playing drums reinforces the impression that whatever transpires, it is bound to be interesting.

Collaborating international companies Batida from Denmark and UK-based New International Encounter (NIE) live up to the expectations they create as the cast of eight (or was it nine, or ten?) who make up their flamboyant Eastern European family, flirt with slapstick and satire as they relate their rambunctious yet sad tale of an eldest daughter’s disgraceful liaison with a painter on the verge of great success, and the trials of living under an autocratic state.

Reminiscent of Eastern European films such as Black Cat White Cat and Time of the Gypsies, their madcap A Man Called Rolex, liberally interspersed with illiberal dancing to thwomping music expertly played at the drop of a hat by the actors, is a hoot.”

By Steve Kretzman, The Critter, South Africa. 
(Read the whole review: A Man called Rolex: Doing the Balkan bop)