Satire under spotlight in Grahamstown

Published Mar 18, 2015

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The National Arts Festival is determined to poke someone, anyone, with this year’s celebration of that point where art becomes more than just something pretty, writes Theresa Smith

SATIRE and freedom of expression will be the order of the day at this year’s National Arts Festival, which runs from July 2 to 12 in Grahamstown.

Festival organisers decided to highlight satire as a genre instead of their usual featured artist category at the 41st annual festival.

“In taking a strong advocacy and agitating angle, this year’s programme not only honours South Africa’s 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,” said Ismail Mahomed, the festival’s artistic director.

“The arts need to challenge and provoke. South Africa’s satirists, cartoonists, commentators and court jesters need, now more than ever, to be given the opportunity to be the public voice, the conscience, of the nation,” he added.

The full programme will be available online from April 3 and a booking kit can be found at selected Standard Bank and Exclusive Books branches, but for now here is a small taste:

Already on the bill to challenge festinos on the main programme are Pieter-Dirk Uys, Chester Missing, Loyiso Gola and Iain “Ewok” Robinson, plus work from Tara Notcutt. This year, the Arts Icon series will celebrate the work of 70-year-old master satirist Uys by presenting world premieres of African Times and The Echo of a Noise, as well as his cabaret, Never Too Naked, and a once-only presentation of A Part Hate, A Part Love. Three of Uys’s films will feature on the film programme: Farce about Uys, Adapt or Dye, and Skating on Thin Uys, and the honoured guest will be Evita Bezuidenhout.

Other premieres on the theatrical stages will be Craig Higginson’s The Imagined Land; Another Great Year for Fishing, which is an ode to slowness by and with Flemish actor Tom Struyf and dancer Nelle Hens; Hirsch, a tribute to Canadian theatre genius John Hirsch; and Miracle in Rwanda, a one-woman show from the US.

Notcutt’s Three Blind Mice will be a gritty journey into the heart of South Africa’s penal and judicial system; last year’s Standard Bank Young Artist for Theatre, Greg Homann, worked with Ralph Lawson to pay tribute to poet and author Alan Paton with A Voice I Cannot Silence; the Dutch-South African collaboration, Masote’s Dream, delves into the life of classical music legend and composer, Michael Masote; YOBO will be spoken word activist Robinson’s new work and Missing is the personal story of satirist Conrad Koch, told with the help of his more famous associate, Chester Missing.

A new innovation this year is the Featured Young Curator – this project will be started by Joburg-based Lerato Berenq who works at the Stevenson Gallery. Her touch will be seen in Simon Gush’s show Red as well as that of Standard Bank Young Artist Kemang wa Lehulere’s Dreamer Imaginist: History Will Break Your Heart.

REVIVALS AND ADAPTATIONS

Standard Bank Young Artist for Theatre, Christiaan Olwagen, will adapt Henrik Ibsen’s Doll’s House; Christo Davids will adapt Dannelene Noach’s novel Arabian Nightmare and Maralin Vanrenen has adapted Marian Tham’s book I Have Life, the story of rape survivor Alison Botha.

To mark the 20th anniversary of Barney Simon’s death, his classic play Born in the RSA will be directed by Thoko Ntshinga, starring Faniswa Yisa and recent Fleur du Cap Best Actress winner, Emily Child.

Pieter Bosch Botha will direct Patricia Boyer in the Brazilian satire, Miss Margarida’s Way, and Tony Miyambo’s The Cenotaph of Dan Wa Moriri (commissioned last year by Wits Theatre) will be presented.

Fred Abrahamse and Marcel Meyer will tackle The Tragedy of Hamlet for this year’s dose of Shakespeare.

DANCE

Dance is also not shying away from the tough topics – Mamela Nyamza and Nelisiwe Xaba finally come back onto the main programme for the first time since winning their respective Young Artist Awards with a collaboration which tackles arts funding, demographics and political correctness, The Last Dance/Pointe. Moving into Dance Mophatong tackle community, power and masculinity in Ngiswize and human trafficking in Man-Longing. Cape Town City Ballet reprise their recent and very successfully received presentations of John Neumeier’s Le Sacre and Spring and Fall.

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS

Botswana pop band, Chasing Jaykb, will perform on the fringe, while Zimbabwean Tumbuka dance piece, Portrait of Myself as My Father, will be presented on the main.

Leslie Lewis will be seen in Miracle in Rwanda, the story of Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculée Ilibagiza; Irish comic and writer, Dylan Moran, will be on the main festival and Dutch electric jazz outfit PAND7090 will be on the jazz programme. For the family, Danish company ZeBU and Assitej SA have collaborated on True Confusion; Speeltheater Holland Studio and Assitej SA will present Red Earth Revisited which is a reworking of a successful collaborative piece that premiered in Grahamstown in 2006; and Dutch performance company Poolse Vis & Twist Development Trust will present Tea.

PERFORMANCE AND PUBLIC ART

Standard Bank Young Artist for Performance Art, Athi-Patra Ruga, expands his fantastical Future White Women of Azania series with a new chapter, The Elder of Azania. Gavin Krastin explores what it means to be human in his performance cabaret, On Seeing Red and Other Fantasies. On the Public Art side, Francois Knoetser’s public art installation, The Cape Mongo, will challenge the viewer to rethink recyclable materials, while Richard Antrobus’s Suggestion Box will trap the performer in a transparent box into which festinos are invited to post their suggestions and comments about the festival.

FILM

This year the work of Afrikaans screen-writer and director, Jans Rautenbach, will be under the spotlight. His films, like Die Kandidaat and Katrina made in the late ’60s, were considered by many to be bravely critical of the apartheid government. He is working on Abraham, his first film in 30 years.

• Bookings for the National Arts Festival open on May 8 and can be made via www. nationalartsfestival. co.za or by calling 0860 002 004.

STANDARD BANK JAZZ FESTIVAL

The jazz programme is as strong as ever and this year features Carlo Mombelli, Pops Mohamed with Dave Reynolds, Mandla Mlangeni, Vuma Levin and former Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz, drummer Kesivan Naidoo. The international artists include Dutch saxophonist Yuri Honing, New York-based guitarist Lionel Loueke; Austrian pianist David Helbock and Taiwanese violin-piano duo Chi-pin Hsieh and Kai-ya Chang. This year’s Young Artist for Jazz, pianist Nduduzo Makhathini, will also be in attendance.

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