09-07-2025
‘This is physical': Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde gets a daring modern twist at the Baxter
La Ronde, Arthur Schnitzler's 1897 text, adapted to the modern South African context, is on at the Baxter until Saturday, 12 July.
The production is directed by Leila Henriques and features the Baxter's Fires Burning Company.
Actor Aidan Scott gives insight into the rehearsal process of the production and comments on the South African theatre industry.
A techno beat throbs through the Baxter Theatre as La Ronde opens to South African audiences with a daring and visually striking reimagining of Arthur Schnitzler's 1897 play. Directed by award-winning theatre-maker Leila Henriques and running from 20 June to 12 July, the production situates Schnitzler's classic text in the contemporary pulse of Cape Town nightlife, transforming the work's historical eroticism into a culturally resonant exploration of intimacy, power, and class in modern-day South Africa.
Schnitzler's text explores ten interconnected sexual encounters across different social classes, a circular structure of interlocking scenes between pairs of lovers.
Henriques' production doesn't shy away from this raw material. Instead, it leans in, transforming the stage into a pulsing, strobe-lit dance floor where bodies move intensely and precisely. Sexual morality and class ideology are debated and bent through the characters, and intimacy is exposed in the dynamics of the scene partners.
The play opens with a fiery, techno-fuelled dance sequence choreographed by Crystal Finck, immediately immersing the audience in the sensory language of club culture. Transactional erotica is established in the first few beats, and a driving pulse encompasses the production.
In Henriques' hands, La Ronde becomes a sweaty dance through modern South African identity, where club culture, class politics, and erotica collide. The characters' actions are honest and large, exposing people in their extreme sexual moments and calling out the contrasts and duality of personhood.
The ensemble, featuring Awethu Hleli, Lyle October, Tamzin Daniels, Nolufefe Ntshuntshe, and Carlo Daniels, with Berenice Barbier and Aidan Scott, tackles their roles with a visceral intensity, each playing into their archetypal characters with honesty and edge. These characters — the student, the actor, the soldier, the domestic worker — remain familiar even in their abstraction.
Across a spectrum of social class, each character burns with a restless hunger for connection, for escape, for something just out of reach. Their sexual encounters become expressions of desperation, a hope to eradicate boredom and live with an idealised yet clichéd excitement.
'Nothing has changed'
'The themes written 150 years ago were bold and daring at the time — the beginnings of feminism, sexual liberation, class, and power. When you read the play, you realise that nothing has changed,' says Aidan Scott. 'We take that language and situate it in modern South Africa, where the problems that people were experiencing 150 years ago are literally the same as we are experiencing now, and the archetypes of the different characters have not changed. Every character that one is going to see when they watch the show is someone they know.'
Scott emphasises that for the actor, the physical demands of a play are deeply rooted in sexuality. 'It's a sex play. That's what it is. Each character, at some point, has sex, and we ask how sex changes a person and how it changes a person in relation to who they have sex with. As an actor, this is physical: how do you walk into a scene? How does the sex change you physically onstage? Do you become more relaxed or highly strung?'
Navigating such intimacy required care in the rehearsal room. Scott notes that the theatre industry lacks the intimacy coordinators that film sets require, and oftentimes, it is up to the actors to navigate intimacy in the rehearsal space. The cast handled this by going through the mechanics of intimacy first, blocking what it feels like to be close with someone, and giving it the time and space required to produce safe work.
La Ronde is particularly significant as it features the Baxter's newly formed Fires Burning Company, an ensemble initiative that mirrors the model of state-funded theatre companies from the 1970s and 80s. 'It's one of the greatest things happening in SA theatre right now,' Scott says. 'A company that grows together gets better together and builds a theatre culture.'
Scott commends Baxter for restarting the theatre company model, an investment in long-term ensemble work that is a rarity in today's theatre landscape.
Henriques brings a distinct approach to collaboration shaped by her time working with Barney Simon at the Market Theatre. 'She wanted to discover, deeply discover, allow choices to emerge from those discoveries,' says Scott.
The production is bold, sexy, and urgent—qualities that Scott hopes will draw younger audiences to the theatre. 'It's contemporary. It's fresh. It's South African. It's diverse. And it's still really good theatre.'
As with much of South African theatre, the challenge remains in attracting audiences. 'With the rise of film and short-form content, theatre has become secondary,' Scott says. 'Audiences will always be an issue.'
Still, he remains hopeful. 'This year looks to be one of the most exciting years in South African theatre we've had in a long time. I've seen shows in London and New York, and the work happening here, whether in performance, direction, or design, is just as good. It's beautiful work.'
