With the National Arts Festival around the corner, heads and hearts are turning to the Eastern Cape cultural fest and the many productions vying for attention. Here are a few options highlighted by the Tonight team
This is Quintin Wils and his team’s second round attempting a mobile thriller which is running in Pretoria as a practice run for Grahamstown.
“I don’t think they have that much site- specific work,” says Wils, only 24 years old and already with his name attached to four productions at this year’s National Arts Festival including this contemporary styled aLexa, Smaarties, the follow-up, Suster, and as one of three directors including Megan Wilson and Sylvaine Strike for Simply Sapiens.
“It all happens in a car and is very intimate,” says Wils about aLEXA.
What happens is that two actors, Carina Nel and Vianney Farmer, are joined in a car by three audience members and then they go on a journey – hence the mobile thriller. It’s about wheels, not cellphones!
They’re already boasting 70 percent sales even with three shows a day, even if that only translates to nine audience members.
“It’s quite tricky,” says Wils because the logistics change for each city and will again when they return to Jozi’s 969 festival after the National Arts Festival. Each city has its own hurdles, he explains, with security always a factor – especially for audience members.
“We learnt a lot the first time around,” he says, talking about Onskuld, their first excursion last year which was more about the excitement of the adventure than dealing with a complete text.
This time, they tried to address that. aLEXA – A Mobile Thriller, written by Herman Vorster (who was also part of the first trial effort), is set in the streets of a town it is performed in where audience members will meet up with the actors, and literally drive with them in the car as they prepare themselves to “get into character” for a show they are starring in at a festival.
“Once in the car with the actors the mystery of Method Acting will start to unfold itself in the car,” Wils explains without giving away too much because that’s much of the fun of this racy theatrical experiment.
“I want audiences to become and feel part of each character’s life, almost as if they know them personally, with the whole experience of the production about immersion in its design and execution,” he continues. They want the audience to be fully committed and involved.
Because of the unique quality of the production, it’s still as much about the experience as the narrative. But the secret will be to get the balance right. It can’t exist without both of those elements present.
“We also have to adapt slightly for the audiences we target in specific cities,” he explains. Included in the production are some video recordings which also have to be reshot in each city. “We can’t feature the McDonalds in Grahamstown in Joburg,” he notes.
With their first piece in Afrikaans, this one has switched to 80 percent English because it broadens the audience spectrum. As a director, Wils has become used to listening at doors, following the cars and sitting on the sidelines to keep his actors on their toes and to keep feeding them notes.
“It’s often an improv situation, so we want the actors to be as prepared as possible,” he explains. But he also loves the idea, that in today’s tough artist environment, it’s a play that has broad appeal and can travel easily.
“We’re driving to Grahamstown in the car we’re using in the production,” he says.
His other shows fall into different genres, with Smaarties already a winner with two Naledi nominations. It’s the story of Mr Lotz who finds himself in a psychiatric ward after the death of his parents while he still has a 12-year-old sister to care for. It’s written by and stars Jannes Erasmus. Susters, which forms part of a trilogy, tells the story of Sybil, a woman diagnosed with dissociative disorder, featuring Nel, also part of the aLEXA team.
And then Wils was commissioned by Craig Morris and Greg Melvill-Smith who wanted three directors from three different generations including Strike and Wilson to work on the three sections of Simple Sapiens.
“I learnt so much from this company of directors and actors,” he says and was thrilled to be included. This one will also be included in the Jozi 969 festival while the others will be travelling the country, so keep your eyes open.
l Suster: B2 Arena from July 9 to 11. Simply Sapiens: PJ’s on July 6 and 7. Smaarties: B2 Area from July 6 to 9. aLEXA: Rhodes Theatre from July 2 to 10 at 6, 8, 10pm daily. If who want to keep in touch with the best of site-specific theatre, catch Nicola Hanekom’s short film Trippie as part of Grahamstown’s film fare which is a representation of her mobile thriller a few years ago at KKNK.