Popular theatre and television personality Ian von Memerty has put his voice behind the Guild Theatre’s Show Must Go On campaign to buy a built-in generator, LED stage lights and revamp parts of the theatre that need refurbishment and repairs. The Dispatch has joined hands with the theatre in the fund-raising campaign.
This week Von Memerty, best known for his television appearances as a presenter on Strictly Come Dancing, a judge on SA’s Got Talent and his musical two-man show A Handful of Keys, has been gracing the Guild’s stage alongside his wife Vivienne Lawrence in Fantastic 50.
There will be two shows today.
Speaking to the Saturday Dispatch this week, he said the Guild was an asset to Buffalo City that had to be protected, especially since the theatre’s staff ran it with commitment and dedication.
“I tour all over the country and the first thing that strikes me when I come to the Guild is that there is a great deal of care, pride and emotional investment everywhere.
“I work in many subsidised and commercial theatres and this is not always the case.
“The foyer, auditorium and backstage areas are spotless. The technicians work for 16 hours on production set-ups and things are run optimally.”
Von Memerty said of the five city theatres he was performing in on the Fantastic 50 tour, two had generators, one – the Guild – had a “plan B” and two had “no plan at all” when load-shedding took down the power supply.
The Guild is currently reliant on an old 26kVA generator which has to be lugged into the parking area and then into the foyer for safekeeping after the show.
This week’s load-shedding affected Fantastic 50 rehearsals when the crew had to “run around like chickens” to set up ahead of the outage.
But Von Memerty is happy to do whatever it takes to preserve the magic that stage lighting brings.
“This is a world-class asset. The stage is bigger than most London theatres and when you stand on the stage, it has scale.
“The Guild is part of the heartbeat of East London and if you lost it, that heart would be a little weaker.” He appeared with his dance partner wife for the first time in East London in 1991.
“If every East London business that employs more than 10 people gave R5000, the city would have a guaranteed theatre.”
This week the East London Dance Forum did just that. The forum, which is made up of the city’s dance teachers who stage up to five productions at the Guild per year, donated R10000 to the campaign.
“The Guild is a very special place to all of us,” said forum member and ballet teacher Heather Cooper.
“We wish the theatre all the best in their fundraising drive.”
To contribute to the Show Must Go On Campaign, deposits may be made into the following bank account:
Bank: Nedbank
Code: 19-87-65 (universal branch code for Nedbank)
Account: 9018866026
Account type: Corporate Saver / Savings. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Appeal to support the Guild
This week Von Memerty, best known for his television appearances as a presenter on Strictly Come Dancing, a judge on SA’s Got Talent and his musical two-man show A Handful of Keys, has been gracing the Guild’s stage alongside his wife Vivienne Lawrence in Fantastic 50.
There will be two shows today.
Speaking to the Saturday Dispatch this week, he said the Guild was an asset to Buffalo City that had to be protected, especially since the theatre’s staff ran it with commitment and dedication.
“I tour all over the country and the first thing that strikes me when I come to the Guild is that there is a great deal of care, pride and emotional investment everywhere.
“I work in many subsidised and commercial theatres and this is not always the case.
“The foyer, auditorium and backstage areas are spotless. The technicians work for 16 hours on production set-ups and things are run optimally.”
Von Memerty said of the five city theatres he was performing in on the Fantastic 50 tour, two had generators, one – the Guild – had a “plan B” and two had “no plan at all” when load-shedding took down the power supply.
The Guild is currently reliant on an old 26kVA generator which has to be lugged into the parking area and then into the foyer for safekeeping after the show.
This week’s load-shedding affected Fantastic 50 rehearsals when the crew had to “run around like chickens” to set up ahead of the outage.
But Von Memerty is happy to do whatever it takes to preserve the magic that stage lighting brings.
“This is a world-class asset. The stage is bigger than most London theatres and when you stand on the stage, it has scale.
“The Guild is part of the heartbeat of East London and if you lost it, that heart would be a little weaker.” He appeared with his dance partner wife for the first time in East London in 1991.
“If every East London business that employs more than 10 people gave R5000, the city would have a guaranteed theatre.”
This week the East London Dance Forum did just that. The forum, which is made up of the city’s dance teachers who stage up to five productions at the Guild per year, donated R10000 to the campaign.
“The Guild is a very special place to all of us,” said forum member and ballet teacher Heather Cooper.
“We wish the theatre all the best in their fundraising drive.”
To contribute to the Show Must Go On Campaign, deposits may be made into the following bank account:
Bank: Nedbank
Code: 19-87-65 (universal branch code for Nedbank)
Account: 9018866026
Account type: Corporate Saver / Savings. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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