Pay R150 for tickets to see both Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Lost in the Stars at the Artscape Theatre, valued at R300 (save 50%)

Some things, like Victorian-era neck ruffles and horse-drawn carriages as a primary means of transportation, are just better left to the past; but, while no one wants to give up indoor-plumbing and Playstations, revisiting the past sometimes can be a good thing. Experience a touch of the good ol’ days and prove that slouching in your sweatpants in front of the television could never replace a night at the theatre and save 50% on tickets for two operas at the Artscape Theatre.

Die Entführung aus dem Serail, or The Abduction from the Seraglio for those who struggle with foreign pronunciations, is an opera Singspiel – a mixture of talking and singing – in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Featuring the UCT Opera School and CTO Voice of the Nation Studio in top form as they attempt to conquer some of Mozart’s more challenging flights of vocal fancy, the madcap high-seas adventure focuses on the rescue of two high-flying sopranos from the clutches of a Pasha by two tenors. If the description leaves you a little confused, it is a reimagining of the classic plot, set on a pirate-ship and filled with high-octane performances and somewhat zany shenanigans. Director Christine Crouse and designer Tina Driedijk take the charming Turkish Singspiel to new heights, and combined with a stage-full of youthful energy, turns one of Mozart’s less-frequently encountered masterpieces into a sight to behold.

Featuring a Westernised version of Turkish music, loosely based on the band that Mozart employed in his early work, it includes some outstanding challenges for sopranos and aural excitement for everyone listening in.

The next operatic offering comes in the form of a revival of Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s rather unjustly neglected musical adaption of Cry, the Beloved Country. Combing the author’s biblically-inspired prose with music and lyrics that incorporate jazz, blues and African-American spirituals, Weill and Anderson managed to produce a vibrant and colourful production that, just like Die Entführung aus dem Serail, is far too infrequently seen. Luckily though, Emmy Award-nominated American director Tazewell Thompson swoops in to breathe new life into the already lively production, in the country that inspired it. Featuring a host of some of South Africa’s most outstanding singers and choreographed by Sbo Ndaba, the eloquent and heartfelt production provides some great songs, such as the famous ‘Lost in the Stars’ and ‘Little Gray House’.

The Artscape Theatre provides the perfect venue for experiencing both the brooding music and zany shenanigans of two highly underappreciated operas.

Broadway fact: One of the world’s most famous plays, Les’ Arts de Visi was created when the director couldn’t decide on a theme for his creation. Combining drama, humour, acrobatics, higher-grade magic tricks, mime, singing and dancing and a plethora of other art-forms, the performance is an amalgamation of every visual art-from ever invented.