News
WATCH TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA AT THE LONDON RICH MIX August 13/14
No Comments »August 5th, 2010 by Arne
Last chance to see our first show “Vakomana Vaviri ve Zimbabwe or Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in London! Having performed this show over 80 times and counting to stunned audiences around the globe, join us as finally lay our cash cow to rest in the city where it all began!
Your ticket will also gain you entry into PAW PAW Jam on Friday 13th, an extravaganza of Zimbabwean music, dance and other toxins. Do not miss this opportunity to be stunned! If you have been stunned before by this show, tell a friend, so they too will be stunned!! COME ONE! COME ALL! COME EVERYBODY!
We’re doing two one off performances at the RICH MIX 35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA.
Fri 13 and Sat 14 Aug / 7.30pm / Venue 1 / £12 / £10 concs
Book tickets online or call our Box Office on 020 7613 7498
KUPENGA KWA HAMLET World Premiere
No Comments »April 25th, 2010 by Arne
Two Gents Productions is proud to announce the World Premiere of KUPENGA KWA HAMLET by William Shakespeare at the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA), Zimbabwe with performances on Tuesday, April 27, and Friday, April 30. After a five week intensive rehearsal process at London’s Oval House Theatre the show is now ready for a larger public!
Performances at the Shakespeare Festival in Gdansk, Poland this summer a month of touring around the UK and a week at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury are already in planning and we are working to bring our take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet to the Oval House Theatre for a three week run in November/December. Fingers crossed!
We look forward to keeping you posted and hope to see you at one of our performances soon!
Two Gents at Theatre Royal Bath this Christmas!
No Comments »December 9th, 2009 by Arne
It has been a mammoth tour of Vakomana VaViri Ve Zimbabwe or Two Gentlemen of Verona. Internationally we have been received enthusiastically by diverse audiences in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Germany. In the UK we have not only performed in London but also around the country in over 44 venues ranging from the impressive city theatres (how about the Contact in Manchester? Or the mighty Aberystwyth Arts Centre?) to the rural (our lucky escape before the floods hit Orton, Keswick and Cockermouth in deepest Cumbria), South to North, East to West we have done them all and have a mile-ridden battered car to show for it.
Almost five thousand people have seen this ever evolving and “seriously entertaining show” (that’s not us but the Observer on Sunday no less!). Next year, we go truly international as we base ourselves in the sunshine city that is Harare and take on Spain and Poland. Exciting, non? For now, we are feeling festive, so come and join us as we take our final bow of 2009 in the beautiful setting of the Ustinov at the Theatre Royal, Bath.
We are going on tour!
4 Comments »September 17th, 2009 by Arne
With generous support from the Oval House Theatre, we have just started rehearsals on our London hit Two Gentlemen of Verona or Vakomana Vaviri ve Zimbabwe. We kick off our tour on September 29 at The Watermill, Newbury where it continues through to 3rd October.
Two Gents on the BBC!
No Comments »July 28th, 2009 by Arne
Listen to Denton and Tonderai reflect on our time in Zimbabwe on the BBC World Service!
The interview includes a clip from our new play Magetsi.
The programme, entitled Zimbabwean Theatre is archived on the Editor’s Choice list.
Magetsi
No Comments »July 8th, 2009 by Arne
After inflation and dollarization, mass exoduses and a newly constituted Government of National Unity, two men in overalls try to make sense of it all using nothing but a bucket and an old piece of carpet.
A newly returned woman’s search for a partner in Harare, a grandmothers campaign for electricity and lessons on how best to negotiate a bucket bath. This revolving disc of characters and situations unearths the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans, whose stories will never make it to the press.
This is it. This is Harare eclectic and electric. This is Magetsi. Written and performed by Two Gents Productions.
Two Gents at the British Library
No Comments »July 6th, 2009 by Arne
This is us slaving away on our laptops to bring you a brand new series of performances! Confirming venues and dates, getting press releases, marketing packs, invites out and ready to go. Watch this space for performance schedules and the like!!!
Our Trip Home
No Comments »July 2nd, 2009 by Denton
I guess we should start off by apologising for being truly awful at updating our blog, the truth of the matter is that Zimbabwe simply ended up being too much fun. Between performing at HIFA, devising a new show, having High Tea at the Meikles and Tonderai breaking his arm, blogging just got abandoned. Tonderai’s broken his arm by the way. To be fair, the speed of Zimbabwean internet is measured in donkey strides per year, and that’s the broadband.
We travelled to Zimbabwe armed with horror stories about how bad ‘The situation’, was. It gave us great pleasure then to have an experience that was quite contrary to expectations.
If you don’t mind the occasional power cut and a bucket bath or two, there is a lot going for Zimbabwe at the moment. We found a resurgent economy, buoyed by the adoption of the US dollar and a people full of such strong will and hope it was infectious.
News from Harare April 24, 2009
No Comments »May 3rd, 2009 by Arne
We did it! Two Gents Productions has landed in Zimbabwe. After a lovely farewell dinner with Tonderai’s mom we embarked on our epic journey South. Even though we were only allowed 20 kg of luggage each (for a 7 week trip!), we managed to squeeze in our costume and trunk at no extra cost. First our flight was delayed then it wasn’t then it was again, so that we felt slightly rushed but were then kept waiting without being able to buy the duty free products we had planned to bring as gifts to Zimbabwe.
The flight over Joburg went relatively smoothly and we all made it through immigrations without any hassle. Tonderai and Arne found their luggage waiting for them, whereas Denton’s was nowhere to be found, along with the trunk. Where Arne was welcomed into the country with open arms and not even a sideways glance at his (fashionable and lightweight :-) luggage, Tonderai’s (massive!) suitcase was meticulously scrutinized by a grumpy customs officer. Apparently she did not like the look of the wigs he was sneaking into the country for his grandmother. Drawing on his skills as an actor Tonderai nonetheless managed to wangle himself out of this tight spot and we were good to go.
Two Gents in residency at Harare’s Reps Theatre
No Comments »April 11th, 2009 by Arne
Two Gents Productions is going to Zimbabwe! Not only to kick off our international tour of Vakomana Vaviri Ve Zimbabwe OR Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA – April 28 – May 3), but also to develop a new piece of work in collaboration with other Zimbabwean artists at the Harare Reps Theatre for three to four weeks in May. A new piece which we will then bring back to London and develop for full production. Dzoka! is your opportunity to see some of the material we are planning to develop in Zimbabwe. Read more »