FILM NEWS

Nataniël on screen

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:08

Popular South African singer, songwriter and entertainer Nataniël will hit local cinema screens for seven days only in his theatre production COMBAT. The film opens on 3 February and will play at selected Ster-Kinekore and Nu Metro cinemas throughout South Africa.

COMBAT is an up-tempo show which investigates and celebrates the uniform. For centuries people have been feared or admired for their uniforms – from emperors to soldiers to church leaders, to police, doctors, nurses, servants, butlers, chauffeurs, firemen and sailors.

This production looks at power and the various ways it is clothed. The stage show originally played at Emperor’s Palace in the first quarter of 2011, where it was a sell-out success.

COMBAT followed on Nataniël’s previous two ‘Big C’s’ - Coronation and Cathedral - with all three shows examining people’s obsession with power.

This is the 11th production Nataniël created exclusively for the Theatre of Marcellus stage at Emperors Palace. Since 2000 Nataniël has made his six-week run at Emperors Palace his biggest and most lavish in terms of costume and set design on his annual tour schedule. Very few fans outside Gauteng have had the opportunity to experience Nataniël’s creative genius as presented in these massive stage productions.

COMBAT is only the second live show filmed in Nataniël's illustrious career spanning more than 60 original stage productions. The show was captured on the latest digital filming technology from Sony by the Irene based production company Holistic Circus, the same team that filmed his 2010 Cathedral production. Cathedral was released nationally on DVD to great critical acclaim, garnering a SAMA 2011 nomination as Best Global Chart DVD.

Following on the current global trend to capture and transpose stage productions to wider screen audiences, COMBAT will be the first ever South African production to receive a national cinematic distribution deal from Ster-Kinekor and Nu-Metro .

“It’s a coup for us to be able to bring such a popular entertainer to the big screen,” says Helen Kuun, CEO of Indigenous Film Distribution. “Because the stage show was such a success, the film is likely to attract Nataniël's significant following. It’s a spectacular show, from the performances to the costumes and set design.”

“It was Mark Twain who said ‘clothes make the man’,” says Nataniël. “COMBAT looks at what power does to people and how the world revolves around nonsense fuelled mainly by old, really unattractive men throughout history. I don’t think there has ever been an attractive leader since Henry VIII. COMBAT is about how people who shouldn’t even be allowed out into the street acquire power simply because of a uniform.”

Through comedy, fantasy, satire, monologues in both English and Afrikaans, and a collection of original songs, Nataniël takes a look at uniforms, old and new: the control, the cruelty, corruption, sexual attraction, beauty, temptation and fascination. From ancient Romans to Third World dictators, from the corporate world to the strip club, nothing seems to make a greater impact than the appearance of a uniform, and this is what he explores in-depth in COMBAT.

The cast includes Dihan Slabbert, Ignatius van Heerden, Martin van Heerden, Nicolaas Swart, Charl du Plessis (keyboards), Juan Oosthuizen (guitar), Werner Spies (bass) and Hugo Radyn (drums).

« go back