Double bill of Paul Slabolepszy plays for Durban

Writer and director Paul Slabolepszy is one of our country’s most prolific, acclaimed and respected playwrights and this weekend fans of his work Slabolepszy are in for a treat with two of his shows set to be performed in Durban over the weekend of May 8 to May 10. Ashley Dowds, fresh from rave reviews in Johannesburg, will be staging the iconic one man show,The Return of Elvis du Pisanieat the Seabrookes Theatre at Durban High School on Friday, May 8 Saturday, May 9 and Sunday, May 10. This masterfully-told story, which moves from pure nostalgia through extreme heartache to unbridled joy, has been given a new lease on life by Dowds in an exhilarating career-defining performance.

Forty-nine-year-old East Rand salesman, Eddie du Pisanie, is washed up, retrenched and suicidal. He decides life is no longer worth living and writes a farewell note to his wife, before planning to gas himself inside his car in the garage…. when he switches on the car radio.

The Elvis Presley song he hears does more than take him back 30 years – it recalls an event in his childhood that changed his life forever. Abandoning – for the moment – the idea of suicide, he drives to Witbank, the town in which he grew up, and ends up opposite the ex-Carlton bioscope, alongside a streetlamp. Is it possible to change our own destinies?

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Can one retrace the past to reignite the present? Can longing overcome despair? “Elvis” du Pisanie is about to find out … “If you are looking for a night of raw emotion, side splitting humour and a healthy dose of nostalgia thenThe Return of Elvis du Pisanieis a must see,” says reviewer Georg Knoke.

“Dowds performance is electrifying and Paul Slabolepszy’s script remains as sharp and relevant as ever. Don’t miss this chance to see a South African gem brought to life by a truly amazing actor.” Dowds, a Cape Town-based film, TV and stage actor and voice artist, was nominated for the 2025 Naledi Theatre Awards for Best Performance in a Solo Production forThe Return of Elvis du Pisanie.

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