The Return Of Elvis Du Pisanie, with Ashley Dowds and written and directed by Paul Slabolepszy, will be on at The Drama Factory from November 23 to November 25.
A story that moves from pure nostalgia, through extreme heartache, to unbridled joy…The Return of Elvis du Pisanie is all at once sad, amusing and gloriously uplifting.
Eddie du Pisanie (Ashley Dowds), a 49-year-old East Rand salesman, is retrenched and decides life is no longer worth living.
He writes a suicide note to his wife and is about to gas himself in his car in the garage, when he switches on the car radio. The Elvis Presley song he hears recalls an event in his childhood that changed his life forever.
Abandoning – for the moment – the idea of suicide, he drives the 200km journey to the town in which he grew up, to a lamp post opposite the ex-Carlton Bioscope.
Can we change our own destinies? Who would have believed that a simple act of switching on a car radio could change the course of your life?
If you ever saw Paul Slabolepszy on stage as Eddie Du Pisanie about 20 years ago, you’ll remember the thunder and lightning and hilarity of that story. The story is written by an actor/playwright with so much tenderness for the characters, that you live vicariously with them in each moment.
While he was still at school in Musina, in the far northern province of Limpopo, Paul Slabolepszy remembers telling stories beneath a gigantic baobab tree in the middle of the playground, to all who would listen.
He was only 12 at the time, but the seed was being planted for a life of storytelling, of entertaining and enlightening his fellow South Africans in a way he never imagined possible.
To raise funds for the local Scout Troop, young Paul and his friends put on a “concert” at the Musina MOTH Hall. The show was written by the budding storyteller, and he and his friends collected the costumes and props, built the set and made the posters as well, which were pasted to every available lamp post and shopfront in the tiny dorp.
The presentation was not exactly the stuff of Shakespeare, but it was enjoyed by all who saw it and the money collected was put to good use.
Paul observes that the more things change, the more they stay the same. He still writes his own plays (and the odd movie and TV show), still builds the sets and collects the costumes, and still puts up his own posters.
Whoever would have believed that the little kid from the banks of the Limpopo would journey from the MOTH Hall in Musina to the Old Vic Theatre in London – probably the most famous theatre in the world – to present his own play, Saturday Night at the Palace, in 1984.
The play has become a drama classic and is a set-work at many schools around South Africa. A founder member, in 1972, of South Africa’s first non-racial theatre – The Space, in Cape Town – with Dr John Kani, Yvonne Bryceland and other leading theatrical lights, Paul Slabolepszy has, to date, written 38 plays, 12 produced screenplays and many sit-com episodes for television.
He has appeared across the stages and screens of our country as a multi-award winning actor as well, and learnt the basics of his craft studying at the University of Cape Town where he obtained a BA degree (English and Drama).
Ashley Dowds began working on stage at the Natal Playhouse, with large scale productions such as The Three Musketeers, Charley’s Aunt and Peter Pan.
More recent theatre includes: Paul Slabolepszy’s ‘The Return of Elvis Du Pisanie’, ‘The Curious Incident Of The Boy In The Night’, ‘Constellations’ (as Roland) – for Pieter Toerien Productions), ‘Pale Natives’ (as Ashley at The Market Theatre), ‘Soil’ (as Nic – Theatre on the Square), ‘Hard Love’ (as Zvi) and Claudius in The Framework company’s ‘Hamlet’.
As an actor, Ashley has played lead roles on eTV’s Scandal!, as well as support roles on Isidingo (SABC3), Generations SABC1), 7de Laan and Binnelanders (Kyknet).
His international work includes ‘Warrior’ for HBO, and ‘Deep State’ series 2, for UK- based Endor productions and has most recently been contracted with the German film production co. Wiedermann&Berg on ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ – for SA cinema release June 2024.
Other recent work (2021) includes his role as Mickey Purvis, Scottish husband of the endearing lead character played by Maria Doyle Kennedy, in the TV series ‘Recipes For Love And Murder’ for Mnet (SA) and Acorn TV (Scotland).
Shows are on Saturday November 23, at 3pm and 7.30pm, and on Sunday November 24, at 4pm. Tickerts cost R180, and are www.thedramafactory.co.za
The Drama Factory is at 10 Comprop Square, Henry Vos Close, Asla Business Park, Strand. For more information, call 073 215 2290.
