For the first time, National Arts Festival audiences have the chance to snap up early tickets to three flagship productions at the 2019 event in Makhanda, which will be held from June 27 to July 7.
“We’re announcing the return of genius comedian Dylan Moran with his new show Dr Cosmos; performances by the extraordinary and iconic Drakensberg Boys Choir, and a rare opportunity for audiences to experience a brand-new work from Brett Bailey before it heads abroad,” Festival CEO Tony Lankester said.
“All three productions will have extended runs – and we’re putting tickets to one performance each on sale now for those who want to plan ahead and secure tickets or buy holiday gifts for friends and family.”
Irish comedian Moran returns to the Festival after three hilarious full-house shows at the 2015 National Arts Festival. Moran will once again offer his unique take on love, politics, misery and the everyday absurdities of life, all served up with poetical panache.
One of the finest comedians of our generation, Moran is referred to as the Oscar Wilde of comedy. His newest show promises to be an unmissable journey that swerves around clichés to offer a cutting, deadpan and witty blow to all our idiosyncrasies.
“When he came to the National Arts Festival in 2015, Dylan became the fastest-selling artist in Festival history, so we’re delighted to bring him back and we’re urging his fans to get in early,” Lankester said.
The internationally renowned Drakensberg Boys Choir will also be on the 2019 programme.
This unique institution has a 51-year history and the calibre of their old boys speaks for themselves: Deon Lotz (actor), Terence Bridgett (actor), Paul du Toit (author), Loyiso Bala (tenor), Phelo Bala (baritone), Dawid Boverhoff (musician) to name but a few, with many others appearing at the National Arts Festival over the years.
The choir will perform a selection of classical, African gospel and choral pop music.
This will be followed by their unique, semi-theatrical presentation of indigenous South African music, which centres around the theme of “Water=Life", as well as their renditions of chart-topping pop songs and gospel numbers.
The choir will incorporate songs and music from Xhamissa into their single-set programme as a concertante version.
Brett Bailey brings Samson, a highly theatrical, visual and musical work, with a sharp political sensibility.
Samson is a lyrical, sharp-edged, apocalyptic dance-music-theatre piece, based on the popular Old Testament hero myth of loss, betrayal and rage, and interpreted on a rich visual canvas, with haunting choreography, soaring vocals and live electronica.
It is set in a dystopian present in which a rapacious and supremacist master race feeds off the labour of the downtrodden masses.
It is performed with opera, choral singing, punchy animated video scenography, black humour, brooding swagger and the booming sub-bass of dub-step music.
The internationally acclaimed works of Brett Bailey and Third World Bunfight rarely appear in South Africa. Exhibit B, which was presented in 26 cities around the world, and Macbeth, which was staged in 32 cities, each played only once locally.
The inclusion of Samson on the 2019 Main Festival affords local audiences the opportunity to see this new production before it heads abroad.
The work also features three Standard Bank Young Artist alumni’s in Bailey (Theatre, 2001), choreographer Vincent Mantsoe (Dance, 1996) and Shane Cooper (Jazz, 2013) who is creating the score. A fitting parallel in a year that celebrates 35 years of Standard Bank’s sponsorship of the award.
Only the first performance of each show is available for pre-bookings – Moran on June 28, the choir on July 1 and Samson on June 27 – with the others open for full bookings early in 2019.
Visit the National Arts Festival website for more information: www.nationalartsfestival.co.za