Plewman's returns in the Insatiables

With ethics and morality at best a touchy subject in this country, The Insatiables comes as a breath of fresh air in its ability to tackle this sensitive zone with humour and wit.

Directed by Clare Stopford, The Insatiables features theatre heavyweights Tim Plewman and Jonathan Rands. Plewman, who wrote the legendary one-man comedy Defending the Caveman and performed it for an astonishing nine continuous years, graces the festival stage for the first time ever, while Rands hasn’t performed at the festival for over a decade.

Moral decay
Plewman and Rands play childhood friends who have grown into maniacally shrewd businessmen. The story charts their inter-related journey through moral disintegration and failure.

The script has been stylishly constructed and the plot is beautifully worked, although the fluidity of flashbacks from present to past is slightly hampered by a flat performance by Ameera Patel, who acts as therapist to the ethically challenged schemers.

Delightfully engaging and undeniably applicable to the South African context, the actors’ stage presence is appealing, simple and convincing. “We believe in the product we are presenting to the audience,” Rands says.

The key aim of the play, he explains, is to show how easy it is to indulge in unethical behaviour and how small beginnings can lead to compromises in integrity. “It is really easy to get sucked in,” he adds.

Meanwhile Plewman is enjoying his first Grahamstown festival with the abandon of a true festival virgin.