Hearts & Eyes Theatre Collective
Hearts & Eyes Theatre Collective established itself as one of Cape Town’s leading independent theatre companies in the 1990’s. The company was founded by the late Peter Hayes. Jaqueline Dommisse is the artistic director.
About Hearts & Eyes Theatre Collective
Hearts & Eyes Theatre Collective
Known as cutting edge and brave, Hearts & Eyes Theatre Collective pushes the boundaries of theatre. They use the stage to reflect and interpret contemporary inspirations and issues that affect the lives of South Africans. Classic or contemporary, their view is local, while their ethos is global. They endeavour to create work that gives full voice and expression to a range of artistic visions, styles and subject matter. Their hope is that what you see moves, delights and transforms you as well as inspires you to examine and explore the world with a clear eye and an open heart.
The name of Hearts & Eyes comes from the Canadian director Denys Arcand’s film Jesus of Montreal, about actors working on a play. The main character is murdered for his art and as he has no family, the doctor asks whether they can donate his heart and eyes for organ transplantation. Hearts & Eyes believe that a director gives his eyes to the actors and the actors give their hearts to the audience.
“We strive for theatre that makes a difference. It may just be a shift in perception or maybe even a new way of looking at life.”
Peter Hayes
jaqueline dommisse
Director, theatre maker & dramaturge
Jaqueline Dommisse is the Artistic Director of a small independent theatre company, Hearts & Eyes Theatre Collective. Originally from Johannesburg, where she studied drama at Wits, she, her husband, and teenage daughter have made Cape Town their home for the past 30 years. She served as Festival Director for The Cradle of Creativity, an international festival of theatre for children and young audiences mounted by ASSITEJ South Africa 17 to 27 May 2017 and recently completed work on the 20 to 25 August 2019 version.
As a theatre maker and director, Jaqueline is a passionate storyteller with an eclectic style, using whatever medium best serves the story she is currently driven to tell, harnessing everything from puppetry and circus skills to contemporary dance and the spoken-word. She has an interest in puppetry, masks, and visual theatre, and sits on the board of Puppetry SA, UNIMA. In 2010, she served as Artistic Director of the Out the Box Festival of Puppetry and Visual Performance.
Recent directing credits include Dennis Kelly’s DNA for the Obs Youth Theatre and staged readings of two new plays by Dawn Garisch: Accident and Egg 3 Stories in 2018. The critically acclaimed My Name Is Rachel Corrie edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner which premiered at The National Arts Festival and was seen at The Market Theatre in 2015. A puppet theatre production, Sadako, which toured France in 2013. Also, Martin Moran's The Tricky Part; and an integrated dance-theatre work for Remix Dance Company called Bluebeard; Stone Words a spoken word production by Khadija Heeger; and several award-winning plays written by Peter Hayes: The Alchemist’s Heart; I am Here; Sadako; and Suburbanalia.
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IN MEMORY OF PETER HAYES 1965 - 2013
Playwright, Actor, Theatre-maker, Designer, Restaurateur and so much more...
Peter Hayes was the founder and artistic director of The Hearts and Eyes Theatre Collective, he not only created magical theatre in every imaginable genre from cabaret to circus, but also used the stage to highlight social issues with bravery and insight. He was a pioneer in the establishing of gay theatre as a genre in South Africa with productions such as Get Hard, The Homosexuals (Out inSouth Africa), Love Story and TheStories I could tell.
Hearts & Eyes was founded in 1992 while he was still a student at the University of Cape Town. His classmates were, among others, Anna-Mart van der Merwe and Lionel Newton.
The theatre has lost agreat light. We mourn a magnificent man and beloved friend, said his Hearts & Eyes partner, Jaqueline Dommisse, yesterday about their partnership which spanned over 2 decades. “To work with Peter was truly inspiring. He had a mercurial mind that worked imaginitively and intellectually. He read widely and had three new ideas every day before breakfast. He created work that was innovative and powerful, daring and playful, work with integrity and courage.”
According to Niel le Roux, head of the Suidooster Festival Hayes was a pioneer that established gay theatre as a fully fledged genre in South Africa, after it had already been established internationally for some time. “He must be honoured for that.”
Theo Kleynhans, visual artist and long time friend, echoes this. “Get Hard (performed in the early nineties) was truly groundbreaking theatre that shed light on Aids at a time when everybody kept quiet. After his performances you looked at the world around you with new eyes, a saddened Kleynhans said. He called him a marvellous person and told how supportive Hayes was of South African visual artists. His extensive art collection included works of, amongst others, Kleynhans, Henk Serfontein, Pierre Fouche and Kai Lossgott.
Hayes’ most recent solo performance was the autobiographical I am Here, which was performed in Cape Town and Grahamstown. On one level he tells the story of his Spanish Pilgrimage, but on another he tells of the day and days after he heard he was HIV-positive.
He also wrote and directed Ncamisa! The Women (kiss the woman in Xhosa) with actress Pam Ngwabeni. It portrayed the everyday life of black lesbians in a time where they are persecuted and murdered. He wrote it out of shock and disbelief after there was no protest after the murder of Zoliswa Nkonyana in 2006 in Khayalitsha.
The Hearts and Eyes collective were also widely praised for their visual theatre and use of puppetry in plays like The Alchemist’s Heart which was performed at various Afrikaans festivals as Die Hart se Smeltkroes and most recently Sadako which was performed with great success in France this year. The play deals with a Japanese girl, Sadako, who has been affected by radiation after the nuclear bomb attack. In an interview with Die Burger , Hayes said: “I think it is ludicrous that we house a bomb on our planet that can destroy man kind and the world that we live in. How do we teach world leaders that by empowering yourself you may not disempower me?”.
Ismail Mahomed, artistic director of the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, describes his death as agreat blow for the South African arts world. “Peter Hayes was a gentle, loving artist. He used his remarkable talent and conscience to create challenging South African productions of the highest standard. His sudden death is a great blow for the South African arts world.”
Johan van der Merwe, an avid theatre goer said. “I will never forget how he once came to me after a performance and said that he always sees me at his shows and that he really appreciates it.”
Hayes also pursued his passion for food and was a good chef who for a while owned his own restaurant named Gorgeous. His home, Knysna Villa, in Observatory and his hideaway Dankie Daddy-fontein in the Cederberg was choicely arranged.
He built Dankie Daddy-fontein with his inheritance from his father, Mike.
"Artists need someone to bounce their ideas off... It's important to have someone whom you trust who can bring in another perspective... You have to have someone who believes in you, will tell you the truth, and will be there for you when you phone at 2 am in the midst of a crisis." --- Elton John,
October 2005
... you were that person for me, Pete, and I am still trying to find a way of feeling lucky that I had that, without the pain of knowing that it is gone.
Peter was very clear - a director to the end, he had told us what he wanted: a decoupaged coffin; that he wanted us to exchange fresh cut flowers and he wanted this song to play: 'Do You Realise?' by the Flaming Lips. St George's does not allow recorded music, so even better, the heavenly Heather Mac spent the night learning and rehearsing to sing this song for him. I am going to try and live the message he sent us:
"Do You Realize?"
by the Flaming Lips
Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize - we're floating in space -
Do You Realize - that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize - that everyone you know someday will die
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
Do You Realize - Oh - Oh - Oh
Do You Realize - that everyone you know
Someday will die -
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize
