Written by Jon Keevy, performed by Briony Horwitz and Jazzara Jaslyn and directed by Tara Notcutt, Every Beautiful Thing will run at Alexander Upstairs Theatre from Thursday, 14 to Saturday, 16 May and from Monday, 18 to Saturday, 23 May at 19:00.

Susan is adopted. Katelyn is her younger sister – the miracle baby. Susan is a lawyer, wife and mother. Katelyn just rolled her car down a mountain. In the hospital, pain meds and memory twinkle under fluorescent lights, circling ever closer to the truth.

The story behind the story: Horwitz always felt that A Girl Called Owl was eerily connected to her own life. As if Keevy had written her play (she wasn’t yet cast when he wrote it). She found herself thinking ‘but how does he know?’. Given the success of the partnership and her thirst to work on something challenging and beautiful again, she commissioned Keevy to write a new play loosely inspired by events in her family. Once again, he wrote all kinds of things she hadn’t actually told him. Creepy. This time she asked for a two-hander so that she wouldn’t be so lonely on stage.

Briony Horwitz is a producer and performer. Her best work so far is as Olivia, Kay and eight other characters in A Girl Called Owl (2012 to 2015). She has done some Shakespeare as Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet Unplugged (directed by Anthea Thompson in 2009), 30 characters in The Big ‘O’ (directed by Ashley Dowdes in 2010) and as Lady’s Macbeth and Macduff in Macbeth (directed by Nkosinathi Gaar in 2015). She has also been on screen as Sasha in Scandal! (2013), Zoe in The Wild (2011), Zoe in Karoo (winner of best short film in 2011) and Joan in Wounded (feature film recently released on Mzansi).
 
She has toured South Africa with multiple children’s theatre productions, directed two small children’s theatre companies and been production assistant for Hugh Masekela’s management team for the past five years. The skills she learnt through these experiences served her well as producer of A Girl Called Owl on tour in South Africa and the UK from 2013 to 2015. 

Jazzara Jaslyn is a 23-year-old film and theatre actress, born and bred in Cape Town. Her notable lead roles include Beth in A Lie of The Mind and Erika Brucker in Mephisto. A diligent and passionate actress, Jaslyn has been described as one of the most exciting talents to emerge from UCT.

Jon Keevy has trouble remembering what sort of bio he should be writing – a writer? A designer? A director? A producer? Like many people hustling in the Cape Town theatre industry he has to be more than one of these at any given time. As a writer Keevy flounces through different genres, from Children’s theatre to saucy sketch comedy, to solo shows dealing with dark South African themes. Most of these he has produced himself or with the aid of ASSITEJ and/or the Theatre Arts Admin Collective. A Girl Called Owl was invited to the Brighton Fringe Festival in the UK in 2013, where it was the third best International Production according to Latest Magazine. In 2014, the show sold out at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Get Kraken! for younger audiences won JKeevy his first Standard Bank Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival and Dirty Words (definitely not for younger audiences) won him his second. 

He also runs Alexander Upstairs, the tiniest theatre in Cape Town (also, the best).

Tara Notcutt is a seasoned and internationally acclaimed director and producer, and artistic director of The Pink Couch. The many productions she has worked on have toured around South Africa and abroad with much success. ...miskien and The Three Little Pigs have both been performed in Perth and Amsterdam and been invited to New York. The Three Little Pigs won the Silver Award for Best International Production at the Amsterdam Fringe. Notcutt’s numerous credits include Mafeking Road; Last Rounds; WhatWhat; Ilusive; Thom Pain (based on nothing); Waiting for This God Ou and A Town Called Fokol Lutho. 

Production: Every Beautiful Thing
Dates: Thursday, 14 to Saturday, 16 May; and Monday, 18 to Saturday, 23 May
Venue: Alexander Upstairs Theatre (Alexander Bar & Café, 76 Strand Street (Corner Loop), Cape Town CBD)
Time: 19:00

Tickets cost R90 at the door and R80 when pre-bought. To book online, click here. One can also purchase tickets in person at the bar anytime during opening hours (Mondays to Saturdays from 11:00 to 01:00). For telephonic bookings and enquiries, phone 021 300 1652.

For more information, visit www.alexanderbar.co.za. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook and on Twitter.