South African rugby team to see international version of ‘Defending the Cavemen’
South Africans bring two things to Las Vegas this weekend: rugby, and an anthropological look at the battle of the sexes.
No overlap there, right?
Not so fast. Tim Plewman says South Africa’s international rugby team, the Springbok Sevens, has asked to attend his one-time performance of “Defending the Caveman” while in town for the USA Sevens tournament at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Plewman is making the long flight to celebrate 10 years of “Caveman” in Las Vegas. Producers plan a series of international versions of the one-man comic play, usually performed here by Kevin Burke. Plewman’s 6 p.m. Friday show at the D Las Vegas will be followed by a Mexican actor in May, a German in October and Cuban and British versions at some point.
Plewman has been doing “Caveman” since 1997. He was the first person outside the United States to perform Rob Becker’s work and the first to rewrite it to address cultural differences. Friday also marks the first time a Las Vegas version has run a full two hours; Burke trims it to 75 minutes or less.
Read more from Mike Weatherford at reviewjournal.com. Contact him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com Follow him @Mikeweatherford.
Tim Plewman on …
Why it translates: "Because it's about people. It's not about race, it's not about religion, it's about how people feel. Because it's genetic. It's the way we are … . These themes will come up and they will be similar, because people are similar no matter where you are. But to make it reach home, it has to touch your culture and where you live and the way you speak."
A difference U.S. audiences will notice: "If you're middle class and above (in South Africa), generally speaking, you would have domestic help … that's a common thing in this country. Certainly for the theater-going audience, it's absolutely common. To be realistic, we have to bring that into the show.
Talking about gender in a country where Americans hear more about race: "I have a black and white audience. There are cultural differences. And we have two kinds of black audiences, a traditional black audience which still follows a tribal kind of format (and more) urban guys.
"It's incredible how we found it bridges all of those racial divides … It's one thing the theater has always done in South Africa, going way back. The one place that refused to bow down to apartheid was the theater. We said no, it has to be multiracial. To find a piece like this that absolutely crosses all of those divides and is understood equally and is equally valid is incredible … and therein for me lies the absolute joy and strength of 'Defending the Caveman.' "
