Duo bring life of fifth Beatle to stage
"If anyone was the fifth Beatle, it was Brian,” said Paul McCartney in a 1997 BBC interview, in case you were wondering about the title of the drama at Pieter Toerien’s Monte-casino Studio Theatre titled Epstein.
Epstein: The Man Who Made The Beatles which opened on Sunday (see review) is a window into the private world of the music entrepreneur whose career as The Beatles’ manager made him a household name, yet whose controversial personal life remained in the closet.
Epstein died in 1967 of an accidental overdose at the age of 32.
And why should anyone care? We are dealing with a generation who don’t always know who The Beatles are. “I knew who they were – just,” says a youthful Sven Ruygrok who plays a character simply called “This Boy”.
“I rather liked that,” says Ruygrok who turned from his planned career as a gymnast after a serious injury and found his niche as an actor. Within three weeks at UCT as a drama student he was offered a film role and the university asked him to make a choice. It was study or work? He’s never looked back.
But, says the actor playing the illusive Epstein, Nicholas Pauling, he spent four years at UCT’s drama school and his initial acting genes were awakened when he played a voiceless duck, but one with a powerful presence. And with this one directed by Cape Town’s Fred Abrahamse, it’s come full circle for Pauling.
By: Diane de Beer
Source: Tonight
