Langa new venue for city’s Fringe festival

THE CAPE Town Fringe Festival, which takes place in the city centre and at the V&A Waterfront, has for the first time spread to Langa.

The second Cape Town Fringe Festival is an 11-day theatre experience.

The first festival was hosted at the City Hall and at the V&A Waterfront, but this year Guga S’thebe Arts and Culture Centre in Langa has been picked as a third venue.

The festival started yesterday, on Heritage Day, and will end on October 4. Chief executive at the Fringe Festival, Tony Lankester said the move was part of taking the festival to a wider audience. “We wanted to spread it out to create accessibility and to make the festival more available to a larger crowd of people.”

He said Langa was close to town and that the city council, which is one of the major sponsors of the festival, had invested in Guga S’thebe.

“It’s a very cultural place and ties in well with the festival.”

There are about 70 productions to choose from, with more than 60 percent of the artists hailing from the Western Cape.

The festival focuses on theatre, but there will also be music, dance, physical theatre, illusion and magic.

The opening performance started at 11am at the City Hall with the whimsical What Goes UP. Children as young as three were blown away by the allure of theatre magic.

Simultaneously, the V&A Waterfront audience was treated to a mime performance by Richard Antrobus.

Other venues include Alexander Bar, the Fugard, the Jubilee Hall at the Watershed, and at Spier outside Stellenbosch.

Ticket costs range from R40 to R100. There are concessions for students, pupils and pensioners.