Raiders hit Darjeeling in mad quest for tea party for grandma

Just because the Raiders team turned 21 last year doesn’t mean they are going to suddenly change a winning formula. So, this year festinos can look forward to Rocket Raiders, the story of Salty’s great- grandmother, Dame Sally Hepburn.

Last year they were awarded the inaugural Standing Ovation Award for the way in which their show has contributed to the overall standard of excellence of the Fringe.

This year they return to Grahamstown with a new show, but first Capetonians can help them perfect it when they put on three previews at the Intimate Theatre this weekend.

Director Andrew Brent says he, Nicholas Ellenbogen and Hilda Cronje have been hard at work for the past month, working out gags and making the all important props.

“Because of the strong audience participation, it’s not an easy play to rehearse,” Brent explained.

This is where the initial run comes in. They don’t always get a chance to do previews, but it really helps if they do.

“The thing is, at Grahamstown you’re given a stage manager who doesn’t know the show, so it helps if the actors are on top of it,” he said.

Brent remembers acting alongside Ellenbogen at the end of the 1990s, and rehearsing the show’s lines in the car on the trip up to the Eastern Cape.

This won’t be the first time Ellenbogen is accompanied on stage by a lady – Jojo Hawkins helped him with Phantom of the Raiders in 2005.

Brent said this year’s story just kind of grew out of last year’s one. It’s set in the mid-1860s, around the time the Suez Canal was being built and centres on Salty’s great grandmother, Dame Sally Hepburn.

“It’s about a very special blend of tea from India, which is a kind of an aphrodisiac. Queen Victoria is rather upset that her boyfriend Ghillie Brown isn’t performing properly, and it’s a story about getting the tea into Europe early enough. Our protaganists have to find a way to get the tea from Darjeeling to Europe in under a month,” explained Brent.

Around the time when the Suez Canal was being built, Guiseppe Verdi wrote Aida. Contrary to popular belief, he didn’t write it to celebrate the opening of the canal, but that’s not stopping the trio from including it in the play… or Sherlock Holmes and company for that matter.

l There will be only three previews in Cape Town before Rocket Raiders premiers in Grahamstown: Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8pm at the Intimate Theatre.

Tickets costs R75. Call 021 480 7128 or e-mail luke.ellenbogen@uct.ac.za to book.