Daniel Dercksen shares a few thoughts with Quentin Krog who delivers a powerful performance in Boks.

A highlight on the theatre calendar in Cape Town is the superb 'Vleis, Rys en Aartappels' Festival of Afrikaans plays, featuring the A-list of South African performers, directors and writers.
One of the must see productions is undoubtedly Boks, the Afrikaans translation of Cock and Bull Story, featuring powerhouse performance by Neels van Jaarsveld and Quentin Krog as two men trapped in web of male sexuality.
Boks is definitely for mature audiences. Under the masterful direction of Marthinus Basson, it is a brutal onslaught on the senses that offers one of the best dramas currently on stage.
It tells the story of a boxer and his best buddy who confront their inner demons as issues of their sexuality and sexual preferences test their friendship. READ INTERVIEW WITH NEELS VAN JAARSVELD

Tell me about the character you play?
I play the character of "Jaco Foster", a chain smoking, street fighting, macho-bully bad boy, with a filthy mind & mouth, he hails from the backstreets of Goodwood, the kind of guy you would NEVER introduce to the family.

Was it a difficult role to play? Why?
Yes and no. Yes, because its difficult for me to chain smoke throughout the show seeing as I am not really a smoker. And no, it's not a difficult role for me to characterize because it's so far from who I really am that I can just totally escape in my body & mind and create a different reality for myself. I find this alot easier than playing a character which is closer to my personality, the closer the character is to my personal life the harder it is for me to open up & be comfortable on a stage in front of an audience watching my every move.

How do you relate to the character?
I don't relate to the character at all actually, but that's what makes it such an appealing role to play; to explore and get into the psyche of someone I can never be.

What attracted you to the script?
It's an actors play, very much focused on performance & dialogue, there's never a dull moment for either of the characters and its physically challenging as well. The pace of the script is also great, it's a slice of life out of these 2 friends lives and there's no pretense or perfectly written dialogue, it's messy and all over the place with 1 or 2 silent moments of awkwardness, followed by constant dialogue between these 2 guys, very similiar real to life. I also jumped at the opportunity to play a character so far removed from myself.

What do you hope audiences will get from watching Boks?
I hope audiences can walk away from the show having being thoroughly entertained and also exhausted from being on the edge of their seat for 2 hours. I also hope that they are touched by the humanity & honesty of the story.

What excites you about theatre? Why?
It excites me that once the show starts you can't stop. No matter what goes wrong (and things DO go wrong, often) you can't turn back, you have to think on your feet & have the presence of mind to improvise and make things work. There's no 2nd take or a director shouting "CUT!", you hold an audience in the palm of your hand and it's up to you how to control it, that is quite an awesome feeling, and the adrenalin rush that goes with it is unbeatable.

Any future plans?
Nothing yet on the theatre front. I own a small video production company which keeps food on the table in between acting jobs, I have plans to grow the company and take on some big projects in the future. Other than that I'm quite excited about my first lead role in a big feature film I acted in recently where I got to work with Regardt van den Bergh. The film is coming out on South African cinema screens next year in April, it's called "Tornado".

QUENTIN KROG TALKS ABOUT TORNADO AND THE KALAHARI HORSE WHISPERER

READ MORE ABOUT TORNADO AND THE KALAHARI HORSE WHISPERER

2008 © Daniel Dercksen/ The Writing Studio