The Playhouse Company’s SA Women’s Arts Festival is around the corner. Valencia Govindasamy spoke to CEO and artistic director, Linda Bukhosini
HONOURING the struggles, sacrifices and successes of women through drama, dance, dialogue, music and entertainment, the South African Women’s Arts Festival (Sawaf) runs for from August 14 to 22.
Delivering an overview of highlights of this year’s fest, Bukhosini reveals: “Audiences can look forward to a host of powerful, award-winning stage productions, dance dramas, a gala concert featuring some of the biggest names in the music business, a poetry slam and open mic, musical entertain-ment, children’s theatre, workshops and panel discussions. It’s a festival that caters for a variety of tastes and all members of the family. A Woman in Waiting by Thembi Mtshali is a powerful biographical journey into the heart of what life was like for women in apartheid South Africa. Santa’s Story is a moving, one-woman show depicting Santa Pelham’s journey of courage, inspiration and hope. Fishers of Hope is a relatively new South African play by multi-award winning writer/director, Lara Foot who explores the meaning of hope in the African continent.
“The festival also provides opportunities for meaningful dialogue on issues facing contemporary women. A special treat is in store for music lovers who attend the Gala Concert which features a predominantly women’s orchestra with a full female choir, Maskandi and umbaqanga. During the Open Mic and Slam Poetry session, slam poets will share their stories through poetry, covering a wide range of contemporary issues. Also, The Playhouse Dance Residency dancers will feature in I AM and If The World Was Listening. I AM is a children’s story that focuses on mankind’s destructive behaviour towards Mother Earth in the last days of a barren South African land, while If The World Was Listening is a high-intensity, questioning, and thoughtful dance work.”
Included in the fest is a workshop about violence against women and a parenting workshop. Bukhosini says: “Violence against women is a growing scourge and everyone needs to play a role in eradicating it. It is an issue that’s close to my heart and the Sawaf hopes to make a positive contribution in the campaign to curb the high rates of violence against women, and thereby promote gender equity. The workshop will include a panel discussion of key male figures in the gender- based violence sector. The audience will comprise largely male participants as the idea is to have men talk to other men about this issue with the hope that they will commit to take action as a collective against violence on women. Then, the Playhouse will host a parenting workshop. How can the gift of parenting go wrong? At the right time at the right place isn’t always the case for all, we are directly or indirectly affected by social challenges around us. It might be your sister, your mother or yourself, but at what point do we see our womanly liberties as the ultimate sacrifice? A workshop will discuss this issue.”
Asked what she would like to see achieved for the arts in the next 10 years, the artistic director reveals: “There was a time some years ago when the Playhouse was seen as a performing arts company that catered solely for the elite. In recent times however, this has changed. We are now a people’s theatre company, catering for all sections, with a special focus on previously marginalised communities. I believe that the arts must never be the sole preserve of any particular sector of the community. Our goal is to see a widening of the reach of the performing arts to diverse audiences and making a positive impact on the communities we serve. We can do this by striving for artistic excellence at all times, but also using initiatives and outreach programmes to take the performing arts to all corners of the province.”
l The Sawaf, August 14 to 22 at the Playhouse. See www.playhouse company.com
Artscape festival puts women and their issues centre stage
AN ADDITION to workshops, book launches and a walk, Artscape Theatre will present several significant theatre productions as part of their Women’s Humanity Arts Festival.
A fixture on their calender since 2006, the Women’s Humanity Arts Festival this year addresses challenges faced by our communities and advocates for humanness in society.
Marlene le Roux, director of Artscape Audience Development and Education, says the theatre productions are not only about challenges facing women, but also highlight the positive side of life.
“Look at Cold Case. We needed to highlight the life of Dulcie September – our younger generation don’t know about her, so we will have a talk about the life of Dulcie, followed by the play. But the main reason we are putting it on is because of Denise Newman. She is iconic to the city, and South Africa,” explained le Roux.
Cold Case pays tribute to September, who was assassinated in 1988 while opening the ANC’s Paris office, and it plays on August 6 at 7.30pm – preceded by a talk about September in the Artscape Marble Foyer at 5.30pm – and August 7 at 3pm and 7.30pm.
Henriette with Love also references Athlone: “ Henriette is about ‘what are the current issues that women go through?’. Peter Voges wrote this play for Lee-Ann van Rooi.” Plays from August 8 at 7.30pm, August 9 and 15 at 3pm and August 11 to 15 at 7.30pm.
Bittersoet, the Afrikaans translation of Deon Opperman’s Sweet Sorrow, is about five women juggling all of life’s curveballs, highlighting the white Afrikaner woman’s experience. It plays on Fridy and Saturday at 7pm.
The Unmute Dance Company presents two works – Trapped(August 6) merges visual art, sound dialogue and dance as three dancers pioneer integrated techniques with mixed abilities, while Ashed(August 7) mirrors the evolution of South African citiziens and asks where are we headed.
Le Roux says Unmute’s presence on the programme is less about looking at the challenges facing the disabled community and more about highlighting people’s abilities.
The company features regularly on Artscape’s programming during the rest of the year and Le Roux says they help the theatre greatly in challenging ideas around integration and transformation.
Die Glas ennie Draad, August 8 at 11.30am, based on a true story from one of South Africa’s most notorious ganglands, “looks at the deconstruction of a community placing both the gangster and youngsters on the stage.
“After the play we have a dialogue… it is tools we want to give the youth at risk, looking at anger management.
“This is what we are trying to do with our festival – we are not trying to meet all the needs, but we want to say that the theatre must not be an elitist space, it needs to be popular as a community space, where people can feel safe. With the festival we are trying to show alternatives.”
l Check www.artscape.co.za for more information on the festival, booking details and participating organisations.