It was an amazing night for two extraordinary artists at the Fiestas Awards last week. Director Jaco Bouwer, who was also responsible for the exciting award ceremony to be broadcast on Kyknet, was honoured with the best director award for the debut play Rooiland which also landed him the best new Afrikaans play prize with playwright Tertius Kapp, who in turn received the award as best up and coming talent.
Repeating her success of the previous year with Bethesda, Nicola Hanekom, better known as an actress initially but fast changing that perception, grabbed the big prize for best production, this time for the second in her trilogy, Lot. She also netted the prize for best theatre design.
Two actors from these winning productions also won in their respective categories: Brendon Daniels as best actor in Rooiland, and Neels van Jaarsveld for best supporting actor in Lot.
Lifetime achievement awards on the night were also great cause for celebration with Mimi Coertse, who is celebrating her 80th birthday this year, Louis van Niekerk, regarded as one of the country’s best actors, and acclaimed writer Elsa Joubert.
This was the second year that these countrywide prizes covering the different festivals with the focus on Afrikaans were instigated by Kyknet’s Karen Meiring and linked to their arts programme Fiesta. Hopefully it will also allow the winning productions to travel more widely like the Hanekom trilogy that has been acquired by Pretoria’s State Theatre for a season in April following this year’s Klein Karoo Arts Festival.
• The Fiestas Awards will be broadcast on Kyknet from 7.30pm on March 1.