Theatre Arts • Methodist Church Hall • Cnr Milton Road and Wesley Street • Observatory • 7925 • Cape Town

Before the Second Advent

drama
Produced by Casey DIEPEVEEN and HOLDINGTHUMBS | Written by Ydalie TURK | Directed and Designed by Nell VAN DER MERWE | Music by Diffie BOSMAN | Performed by Ydalie TURK and Margot WOOD
PG

Before the Second Advent is a play in four acts (Conquest, War, Famine and Death) that tells the story of familial trauma, illness, and religious fervor.  Set in an insular English/ Afrikaans Christian community,  Heila visits her estranged, dying grandmother as she awaits the day of reckoning, which she believes will commence tonight. Over the course of a tension filled evening, the young girl bears witness to her grandmother's feverish fixation with the arrival of her maker and the narrative unfolds as the two characters navigate their relationship, both seeking justice, redemption, forgiveness and atonement for past sins. 


DIRECTOR | DESIGNER

Petronella (Nell) van der Merwe obtained BA Hons (Drama) (cum laude) and a few years later an MA (drama) (cum laude) from the University of Pretoria and University of Cape Town. Since 2017 she has worked as a freelance artist in various capacities: she formed part of the writer's team for the company Earcandy (in cooperation with SABC 3) for two years, responsible for the translation of three television series - the Turkish telenovelas Primera Dama/ First lady (2017) and Endless love/Bittersoet (2018) as well as the American animation series Ben 10 (2018). From 2018 to 2022 she also wrote three texts for teenage theatre productions: Oorgang (2018), Om Skaduwees op te vou (2019) and Dinosaurs in Pretoria (2022), two of which she also directed. In 2022 she was appointed co-director alongside Kanya Viljoen for the teenage theatre production of Hoërskool Jan van Riebeek titled Wat Die Water Weet. She designed the set for the Market Theatre's production Aïda: Abridged (2018) directed by Greg Homann as well as Moonless (2019) directed by Gopala Davies at the National Arts Festival at Makhanda. More recently Nell designed the sets (in cooperation with Kanya Viljoen) for Eurydice (2022).

Nell is a mentor for the Zabalaza Festival hosted by the Baxter Theatre.  She is currently working towards a PHD in theatre making at the University of Cape Town.

WRITER | PERFORMER

Ydalie Turk is a South African actress and writer who was named Screenwriter to Watch in 2022 by MovieMaker Magazine for The Grand Bolero. She graduated with a BFA in acting, and currently resides in Cape Town where she works in Film, Television, and on Stage. Aside from starring in the film Color of Dreams, 2022 was a year dedicated to the theatre: she played Orpheus in Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, Katja in Zakes Mda’s The Bells of Amersfoort directed by Dintshitile Mashile, winner of the Theatre Arts Emerging Theatre Directors Bursary, and played the lead in a run of Green Room written by acclaimed novelist Keely Shinners. She has also starred in multiple commercials, for Vaseline, M&G Investments, Castle beer and most notably as the face of a viral campaign for Rain Data, among others. 

PERFORMER

Margot Wood is an actor, director, producer and teaching artist. She started her professional career in what was the performing arts councils, with such theatre stalwarts as Cobus Rossouw, Sandra Kotze, Siefried Mynhardt, Nerina Fereira, Mees Eksteen and others. She has been involved with Educational Drama and Theatre programmes and the training of young actors for many years. After completion of a Master`s degree in Theatre for Children at US, she founded Storywood Theatre, creating theatre for children and, recently, for audiences with complex needs. 

Her independent company, Anex Theatre, has staged productions at NAF, the Fugard Festival, the Cape Town Festival, Woordfees and at venues around Cape Town. For Anex Theatre, she appeared as Amanda in The Glass Menagerie, Millie in People are Living There, Winnie in Happy Days and various roles in the comedy cabaret El Grande de Coca Cola. She appeared in At the Edge of the Light written and directed by Wynne Bredenkamp at NAF, Theatre Arts and the Alexander Bar. In 2022, she performed the role of Miss Helen in Road to Mecca for Darryl Spijkers as well as Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret. She is a freelance actor for theatre and film, and has appeared in a number of roles in local and international film and television productions. She is a trained puppeteer and clown.

PRODUCER

Casey Diepeveen is a theatre and film producer based in Cape Town, with a vision to collaborate on socially-engaged films that amplify women’s voices. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Psychology, Political Science, and Value Studies, an honours degree in Strategic Brand Communications, and studied at New York Film Academy in 2017. Casey is a Project Director at Bond Street Theatre, based in New York, and conducts applied theatre programming in South Africa, Egypt, and Afghanistan. She has also played a pivotal role in the international successes of multi-award-winning South African short films, Ekstasis and The Hive, as well as the experimental film, reaching. In 2022, she coordinated the post-production of Recipes for Love and Murder, the 10-part TV series produced by Both Worlds Pictures.