Contractions
Emily Child graduated from the University of Cape Town in 2007 with a Theatre and Performance Degree, specializing in Acting. Since then she has worked independently and as a proud member of acclaimed Cape Town based theatre troupe – The Mechanicals. Her work has garnered her numerous awards and nominations including the 2015 Fleur Du Cap for “Best Actress” for the role of “Laura” in Louis Viljoen’s “The Pervert Laura” last staged at the The Fugard Theatre. Other theatre projects include “LEAR”, written by William Shakespeare and Directed by Guy De Lancey, “CHAMP”, written by Louis Viljoen and directed by Greg Karvellas where Emily performed at the Edinburgh Festival 2013, as well as LA based Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre and The Mechanicals’ coproduction – “Urban Death”, directed by Jana Wimer. Emily’s one -woman show, based on Dorothy Parker’s short stories, “A Certain Lady” was directed by Greg Karvellas and performed around Cape Town in 2014. Emily was recently seen at The Baxter Studio Theatre, Grahamstown and Hilton Festivals in “Born in the RSA”, directed by Thoko Ntshinga. On film, Emily can be seen in the SAFTA winning series pilot, “Armed Response”, BBC’s youth series “Young Leonardo” as well as “Shirley Adams,” directed by Oliver Hermanus. Emily is currently working on the feature film “Beyond the River” directed by Craig Freimond.
In 2010 Janna formed her own theatre company Thinskin which debuted with an original penned by herself, Mein Soldat. It premiered at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival where it won Ovation Award this provided a spring board for it to be seen at the Hilton Arts festival and the Playhouse New Stages Festival. The play was also nominated for best new South African script, best actress, best actor, best newcomer and best director at the 2010 Durban theatre awards. She also founded the I Heart Durban Theatre Festival where her new play, Callum’s Will, was debuted. The festival was for the development of new South African Theatre and created a platform for new scripts to be staged. Based on its success at I Heart, Callum’s Will went on to have other runs around the country for 2 years. 2012 the role of Suzette in the comedy, Don’t Dress for Dinner and ended with a move to Johannesburg. It has been a great move and full of new opportunity. Janna spent 2013 touring with Don’t Dress for Dinner and Venus in Fur, producing her new play Phobic and a production of John Patrick Shanley’s, Doubt, directed by James Cuningham, and made a guest appearance on Popular TV series The Wild. In 2014 Janna co-directed Sweet Charity for the National School of the Arts alongside mark Hawkins, starred in Nick Payne’s Constellations directed by Alan Swerdlow, which toured around the country for several months and had a cameo on the BBC’s The Wrong Man’s. 2015 has been full of exciting new roles, beginning with taking on Marlene Dietrich’s daughter, Maria Riva, in Gail Louw’s intriguing new play, Miss Dietrich Regrets, reprising the role of Sister James in John Patrick Shanley’s, Doubt and playing Emily in Craig Higginson's new South African Play, The imagined Land. Greg Karvellas has for the past 10 years worked as a Director, Producer and Production Manager in both theatre and television. He has co-produced with his long time collaborator, writer Louis Viljoen, The Abusers, The Bile Boys, The Frontiersmen, and directed the hit play Champ, which enjoyed successful seasons at the Artscape Arena Theatre, the Fugard Studio Theatre, the Grahamstown Festival and the Edinburgh Festival in 2013. Gregs most recent directing credit is Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews which enjoyed a sold out season at The Fugard Theatre in Cape Town and is currently running in Johannesburg. Greg is the General Manager and Associate Producer of the Fugard Theatre.
Media & Reviews
Review of Contractions by Laura Davidson
Review of Contractions by Tracey Saunders
Review of Contractions by Mariana Malan (Afrikaans)
Review of Contractions by Lauren Smith
Press Release
Audience Responses
Emily Child was excellent in her role as Emma. Powerful message of dehumanization in modern society.
Two wonderful performances that will resonate long after the show is ended.
Tired and flat, i wish this stayed a radio drama in the UK.
Fabulous production on all fronts. Well done.
Extremely well acted.Thoroughly enjoyed two talented actresses.
Taut tension filled drama from two wonderful actors. Loved it.
Excellent. Very well written and fantastic acting. Have already recommended it to friends.
Excellent!
Loved it!
Made me laugh and made me want to vomit. Amazing. Well done Tara and cast!
Very good. Brilliant acting.
Look, the whole atmosphere is excellent. The service by Eva(?) was dreamlike, and the play was great except that I'm still taking it in and it caused a lot of debate with my friends. Yes, we enjoyed the play and would further admit that wherever we can find Emily Child acting, we'll be there. As an aside, ( and bearing in mind my illiterate computancy) it took me many phone calls to try and book for this play as I'm unable to do this online stuff. At Theatre on the Bay, one can book on a phone call and if you have my phone number, credit card number and anything else you call for, I'm sure you too can take such bookings. But yes, we thoroughly enjoyed the play and the meal - and like before, we'll be back. We all like our Alexander Bar and Theatre. Many thanks!
Really enjoyed it, why spend two hours + on a subject matter when one will do. Thought “Emma”’s performance really good. Like the atmosphere, thought the cocktails lacked alcohol, certainly my espresso martini, looking forward to our next visit, for a quiz, we feel like we’ve found a great spot!
Brilliant!
great acting. good acoustics.
Thoroughly enjoyed the repertoire.
Hi, I think it was a fantastic performance.
Great performances, tightly directed. Not entirely convinced about the script, but thought the pair were outstanding, focussed, clear and worked brilliantly together.
Magnificent performance.
Look, the whole atmosphere is excellent. The service by Eva(?) was dreamlike, and the play was great except that I'm still taking it in and it caused a lot of debate with my friends. Yes, we enjoyed the play and would further admit that wherever we can find Emily Child acting, we'll be there. As an aside, ( and bearing in mind my illiterate computancy) it took me many phone calls to try and book for this play as I'm unable to do this online stuff. At Theatre on the Bay, one can book on a phone call and if you have my phone number, credit card number and anything else you call for, I'm sure you too can take such bookings. But yes, we thoroughly enjoyed the play and the meal - and like before, we'll be back. We all like our Alexander Bar and Theatre. Many thanks!
One word says it all: FABULOUS! Thank you for great drama. Beverley
OUTSTANDING acting! Really masterful performances.
Brilliant acting and powerful message. Emily Child is outstanding!!
Wow..those two ladies were unbelievable....makes one think just how many people are being abused in the workplace.
Unusual, interesting and well portrayed by the two actresses. Could take issue with the script , for me it indulged on occasion in over the top exaggeration in places but the two actresses served the playwright well.
Slick integration of lighting and clever staging of intimate moments made the difficult style of end-on-end scenes much easier to read. I had a slight problem with seeing Janna's face because I was sitting on the extreme left...but that's a sightline problem with the space. Both actresses showed an incredible amount of control, technique and investment; and Emma's disintegration was particularly harrowing. Well done! PS Could you weight the baby a little more? The box seemed empty?
Extremely well acted.Thoroughly enjoyed two talented actresses.
What most interested me about the script was that it could be played in more than one way. (True of most work, of course, but here a number of options seem to present themselves). Enjoyed Karvellas's stylised production of a basically absurdist work with excellent performances by two fine actors - great rhythms. Would be fun to see the roles reversed!
Excellent, laugh out loud funny.
Contractions ... interesting play. Cleverly directed, beautiful minimal set and lighting design. Dark comedic edgy performances executed in perfect pitch ... utterly watchable ... thank you to all concerned
Great performance from both actresses
Could Emily Child & Janna Ramos-Violante possibly be more perfect for these roles which skate the Bechdel test but surpass so many others. Riveting theatre that will make you appreciate your job,,or resign forthwith.
Funny, appalling and yet terryfying .......Janna Ramos - Violante, as the sexless Slavic looking bitch with that sad deceptively placid soul.....who keeps a deadpan reminding one of a young Dietrich....with that pale gold hair.....I had to restrain myself from jumping onto the stage and giving her a "klap".......as she prolonged to strip the naked fundamentals from the puritan Emily Child......the production spoke of personal freedom and social hopelessness.......and had the atmosphere of spiritual emptiness.....leaving me feeling lost. Quite Brilliant.
sort of Ok performance, but poor and predictable topic : an overall 2 * max ....
Fantastic script, skilled performances, great direction!
Really thought-provoking, weird little gem. Found the audience a little irritating but then I don't think they got it, entirely. Excellent acting carried the ominous, threatening mood from beginning to end. Will recommend
Loved it! Dark, clever and Intense - pity about many rude audience members talking throughout the show and that I wasn't able to sit next to my friend as so many people were keeping seats. So strange audience but great show!
Such a clever play, brilliantly conveyed by the actresses.
Extremely well acted.Thoroughly enjoyed two talented actresses.
outstanding, 2 amazing actresses. REALLY REALLY enjoyed it
I loved the show - the subject was superbly dark and menacing. Both actresses conveyed their characters convincingly, while the dialogue was taut. I thoroughly enjoyed the orductiona dn it's what I've come to expect from the Alexander Bar theatre. However, the bar tender (woman)did not greet me, and shuffled off when I asked her for a cappuchino. I waited while another customer was being served (by a man) and he did not evern ask me to wait, but ignored me. Not cool! I also would like to say something about seating. I've never had a problem before, but this time and really large man sat next to me and he kept falling on me as he fell asleep. I know that reducing the number of seats is not something you want to do, but could they be spaced slightly further apart?
5- brilliant. Emily child has me hanging on her every word.
Excellent
Excellent
Excellent performance and production. Engrossing.
very relevant...more dark than comedy.
brilliant acting!
I came back to see this a second time! Emily Child is awesome in this role - one of the best performances I have ever seen at the Alexander Bar.
I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, both actresses were brilliant - it was gripping to watch.
Potent and engaging theatre that affected me viscerally at times.
I enjoyed it very much indeed, but felt that, from a playwriting pov, it was 'the sound of one hand clapping'. If it was re-engineered into a 3 hander, with the office interview scenes interspersed with ones from Emma & Darren's relationship (especially as both of them had been warned "not to say anything" to the other), it would be a really powerful play.
The play was well produced in all respects: timing, lighting, staging, acting - in particular the acting, which was first-rate. The weakness lies in the writing. The idea of the play is fair enough - a transposition to the workplace of Kafka, Orwell, Huxley, Atwood and others who have presented readers with dystopian visions of an excessively controlled and monitored society. But the play is a one-trick pony; and when it stoops to digging up baby it becomes merely bad comedy. Also, the worst threat that the manager is able to make (given the setting in today's England) is loss of a job and the fear of not being able to find another - which is really quite insufficient as an explanation for the extreme conduct that this elicits from Emma.
Fabulous. 5 stars, you must rebook it.