Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Artist’s role in the spotlight
Inthe
WHAT is the role of the artist in society? Is it possible to balance the need of freedom of expression and perhaps exercise self-censorship in order to operate within that society?
These are some of the issues at the nub of Scenes from an Execution by British playwright Howard Barker, which is on in the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio from March 30 to April 22. Direction is by Clare Stopford. Jennifer Steyn stars as the irrepressible artist – the anti-heroine Galactia.
Steyn has been nominated for two 2017 Fleur du Cap awards ( A Doll’s House and The Inconvenience of Wings) – to be announced at Artscape tomorrow.
She is flanked by Graham Hopkins and Nicky Rebelo and an ensemble of young actors: Khathushelo Ramabulana, Cleo Raatus, Elizabeth Akudugu, Phoebe Ritchie and Lauren Blackwell. Set design is by Patrick Curtis and costume design by Leigh Bishop.
Stopford directed Scenes in 1994 at The Market in Joburg and the production won several awards – including best director. As far as can be ascertained, this is the first time the play has been professionally staged in this country since then. It is a play which reverberates in contemporary South Africa, although it is set in 16th century Venice.
Steyn plays an artist, Galactia, who has been commissioned by the Doge (Hopkins) to paint a grand canvas “celebrating the triumph of Venice” at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. (Hopkins performed the same role in Stopford’s 1994 Scenes production.) Twenty thousand were killed in one day at the battle.
Rebelo explains: “It was one the bloodiest battles in naval history. It took place at Lepanto off the coast of Cyprus, when the Christian fleet of Venice, together with the Papal States, defeated the Turkish Muslims of the Ottoman Empire.”
Galactia is a fictionalised character. As Stopford points out, “it is highly unlikely that a woman would have received such a huge state commission” at the time.
In her painting, Galactia does not portray “triumph” but depicts the savagery, carnage; scenes of execution.
As a woman and mother (her two daughters assist her in her studio), it is the bloodiness and sheer waste of life that she wants to convey.
Stopford: “She is talented, witty, fearless, and rebellious – and up against a society which is trying to dictate what she should be as an artist.”
Galactia goes to prison but isreleased when a critic deems her transgressive painting “art”. Now she has to decide how to live her life. Does she carry on and employ self-censorship and somehow work within the system?
Stopford: “Does she compromise? Well, that’s what the play is asking. How do we execute our lives; make our decisions?”
' Scenes from an Execution’ previews from March 30 to April 3, opens on April 4 and runs until April 22 at 7.30pm with a matinee on Saturday, April 1 at 2.30pm. Tickets are R130 to R160. Book at www.computicket.com/0861 915 8000.