The Return of Elvis du Pisanie, with the author as Eddie, was first performed at the Great Hall, Grahamstown Festival Fringe, in July 1992. For almost a year thereafter, the play toured nationally. The author also gave performances by invitation in Chicago, Illinois, and Alexandria, Virginia, in the United States. The production was directed by Lara Foot who worked closely with the author/actor, honing and trimming the text from its original two and a half hours’ playing time to its current 75 minutes.

The stage is bare, but for a solitary lamppost – the tall lamp arching diagonally out over the street. The post – slightly off-centre – stands on a pavement with the name ‘Union Crescent’ stencilled on the kerb. (Perhaps there is a section of fencing behind the lamppost, or a wall – a stretch of corrugated iron?) A stick lies in the gutter, a plastic milk crate to one side.

On lights up (a very long, gentle fade up), we discover Edward Cedric du Pisanie leaning against the pole, staring up into the night sky. He wears a dark, crumpled business suit, blue shirt, tie, slip-on black shoes and white socks. His slightly overlong hair swept back in a style that is somewhat out-of-date, he is your basic, regular, middle class, forty-something-ish, bloke-next-door. There are four beers in a six-pack at the base of the pole.

Eddie begins to sing – very quietly, haltingly, he croons the first two verses of the classic Elvis Presley song ‘Love me Tender’.

A pause. He stares out front, across the road, dead serious.