Eclectic mix of shows at arts festival in G’town
[caption id="attachment_73621" align="alignright" width="209"] FULL DIARY: Pieter-Dirk Uys will bring a laugh with his satire -[/caption]
A PLAY about Port Elizabeth rape survivor Alison Botha’s remarkable journey, a dazzling showcase of one of the country’s iconic satirist’s work, and offerings emphasising freedom of expression, are just some of the eclectic features of this year’s National Arts Festival.
Announcing the programme for Grahamstown’s annual arts feast yesterday, artistic director Ismail Mahomed said the event from July 2 to 12 would deliberately stimulate debate.
“In taking a strong advocacy and agitating angle, this year’s programme not only honours our constitutional right to free speech, but also creates opportunities for South Africans to do what they do best – engage passionately and honestly about life in our country.
“The arts need to challenge and provoke. South Africa’s satirists, cartoonists, commentators and jesters need, now more than ever, to be given the opportunity to be the public voice, the conscience, of the nation,” Mahomed said.
On call are works and artists from around the globe, including Leslie Lewis in Miracle in Rwanda, the incredible story of Rwanda genocide survivor Immaculée Ilibagiza; Irish writer and comic Dylan Moran, best known for his sardonic observational comedy (and the Bafta Award-winning UK TV series Black Books), and Dutch electric jazz outfit PAND7090.
The Standard Bank Jazz Festival continues to hold its own as South Africa’s leading live jazz event, playing home to African jazz greats such as Carlo Mombelli, Pops Mohamed and Dave Reynolds, Mandla Mlangeni, Vuma Levin, and Young Artist Award winner Kesivan Naidoo.
The contemporary music lineup sizzles in swag.
Chief executive Tony Lankester said: “We are creating an amazing, hassle-free experience for our festivalgoers.”
The Arts Icon series will celebrate the work of master satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys, 70, with the staging of four of his productions, two being world premiers.
Three of Uys’s films will also feature on the Film Festival, one to be attended by honoured guest Evita Bezhuidenhout.
The Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners continue to raise the bar. The festival this year honours choreographer Luyanda Sidiya (dance), director, actor and writer Christiaan Olwagen (theatre), boundarybreaking artist Athi-Patra Ruga (performance art), baritone Musa Ngqungwana (music), pianist Nduduzo Makhathini (jazz) and Kemang wa Lehulere (visual art). All will be presenting work.
On the theatre front, the lineup includes author and playwright Craig Higginson’s haunting production, The Imagined Land, Three Blind Mice, a gritty journey into the heart of our judicial and penal systems directed by Tara Notcutt, A Voice I Cannot Silence, a play by 2014 Young Artist Award winner Greg Homann and Ralph Lawson that pays tribute to poet and author Alan Paton; and the Dutch-South African collaboration Masote’s Dream, about the life of black classical music legend and composer Michael Masote.
Adaptations include: I Have Life, the story of rape survivor Alison adapted by Maralin Vanrenen from the book by Marianne Thamm and Doll’s House, adapted by Olwagen from Henrik Ibsen.
There is also a revival of Born in the RSA, Barney Simon’s play, to mark the 20th anniversary of his death, and directed by Thoko Ntshinga. And, of course, there is Shakespeare – Fred Abrahamse and Marcel Meyer’s inspired adaptation of The Tragedy of Hamlet.
The classical music programme includes Young Artist Award winner Musa Ngqungwana in concert and the Soweto’s Songs of the Harvest Choir.
This year’s dance works do not shy away from tough topics including human trafficking.
In visual arts, works by Young Artist Award winner Wa Lehulere, and those by Themba Shibase, Keith Dietrich, Jodi Bieber, Monique Pelser and Michael Godby highlight the engagement between artist and contemporary issues – political conflict, race, colonialism, identity, war and terror.
There is a bumper bunch of comedy (56 productions), physical theatre (41), poetry and storytelling (11), illusion (7), visual art (57) and dance (34) in the open-access platform.
Bookings open on May 8.
-Herald Reporter
