The West Coast town of Darling will during the last weekend of this month be host to a Mardi Gras of artists, singers, actors, authors, storytellers, mimes and magicians in a new concept called the Voorkamerfest.
Voorkamerfest, a first for South Africa, is a Dutch-inspired entertainment concept, which allows actors to perform in the front rooms of a local community's homes.
Performances will therefore not be in a theatre, a hall or a dedicated venue but in the lounges, sitting rooms and voorkamers of Darling families and over 18 families have opened their homes to local and international performers.
The Voorkamerfest concept has the added bonus of promoting community unity through its interactive nature of an entire town working together to make it work.
In this case the diverse town of Darling with its streets filled with grand old Victorian homes next to a burgeoning township will provide a rich contrast of people to this
festival.
Front room entertainment will be staged by various artists from the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Algeria, Germany and South Africa, to help this experiment become a successful blueprint for other South African communities.
The entertainment will include comedians, mime artists, and story tellers. Each of the 18 families and homes forming part of the festival have been sponsored by an established theatre in South Africa, Europe and the United States.
Each family will act as the chaperone managers for the performances in their homes.
A unique aspect of the Voorkamerfest is the element of surprise for the audience as they will not know whether they will be viewing a performance in a Victorian home or the voorkamer of a township house.
Audiences of between 16 and 25 people will also not know which performer or show they will be viewing until the performance begins.
Performances are 25 minutes each, and are structured in the form a route, which consists of three performances in three different homes.
Evita se Perron will also be used for clowns on stilts, jugglers and fire eaters, Cape Minstrels, arts and crafts, dancers and singers.
Patrons of the Voorkamerfest include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Wim Kok (former prime minister of the Netherlands), Herman van Veen (Dutch showman), Stef Bos (Dutch singer/composer), David Kramer, Helen Suzman, Paco Pe-a (flamenco guitarist/composer), Emma Thompson (UK actress), Mannie Manim (Baxter Theatre director).
Each venue in Darling will be supported by a well-known theatre elsewhere in the world.
Special support has been given by Royal Carré Theatre in Amsterdam, The De Flint, Amersfoort also in the Netherlands and The Baxter Theatre in Cape Town.
Voorkamerfest takes place from September 24-26. Performances on Friday are at 6pm, Saturday at 12am and 6pm and at 2pm on Sunday.
Tickets cost R80 per route, which includes three performances. Bookings can be made by calling 022 492 28 51/31 or e-mail [email protected] visit www.voorkamerfest-darling.co.za/A> for further information.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Saturday Argus on September 11, 2004