From the Student Drama Fest - Tweet, the Musical

Presented by The Waterfront Theatre School, directed by Paul Griffiths with music and lyrics by Roland Perold

While not original – the impact of technology on our human interaction has been top-of-mind of creative artists for decades now - the concept driving Tweet – The Musical is a good one: Human beings may be connected in cyberspace via technology, but we’re losing the ability to look into each other’s eyes and connect in the real world.

The Waterfront Theatre School in Cape Town is the only dedicated facility offering the three-pronged disciplines of musical theatre - drama, dance and singing. Tweet – The Musical is the school’s first foray into the National Arts Festival and director Paul Griffiths and composer-lyricist Roland Perold have played it safe, offering a Broadway-style original musical which plays to the natural and taught strengths of the cast.

The characters operate in a narrow band, where they are defined by what they project onto social networking sites. But they’re Tweeting and Facebooking on their own into a void where their communications are reciprocated by similarly uni-dimensional “friends”. And, they all lack the necessary skills to connect face-to-face. The characters, perhaps intentionally, are not fully drawn, but from cyber-stalker to online guru to vacuous debutante they are not far removed from those we encounter online every day.

Given this soul-less and disconnected world, the characters initially believe that the only solution may be pulling the plug on their online excursions, but Tweet offers a glimpse into a middle ground where cyber and real connections may exist side-by-side. And it does so without becoming didactic.

Notwithstanding rather weak material, the cast’s characterization and musical abilities shone, taking control of the stage and drawing the audience in. Mikhail Jones, in particular, offered a voice and personality which made a strong impression. I thought that more effort could have gone into the choreography, given the movement and physicality exhibited in other student productions on offer this year. But that is a minor weakness. As was the volume on the piano, which drowned out the lyrics of the songs and made it difficult initially to follow the story line.

The Tweet theme is one to which the youthful cast can relate. Young people, after all, are most confronted by the demands and opportunities of the cyber world. I wonder then, why Griffiths and Perold have gone for a musical era with which few young people – I would suggest – can relate. Where was the thumping, in-your-face hip hop lyrics or house and electro-synthetic pop music?

Perhaps next year? Because I have no doubt that an accomplished performance from these young students must establish a platform for their return.

- RAY HARTLE