Fleur du Cap awards celebrate the stage stars of SA theatre
JACOB Bouwer’s Samsa-Masjien and David Kramer’s Orpheus in Africa dominated this year’s Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards, scooping up just more than half of the medallions between them.
The Fleur du Cap winners were announced on Sunday night at the Baxter Theatre, which was filled with the excited who’s who in the industry. Half the awards were scooped up by newcomers, half by previous winners and winners skewed overwhelmingly male so it was pretty much business as usual, though parity across the colour line is looking much better than it has in a while.
Last year the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards used the occasion of their 50th birthday to show ceremony attendees pictures of all the Cape Town theatres but didn’t talk about the theatre outreach work by Distel, or, more importantly, what the arts industry looked like over the decades, through the lens of who received an award and who didn’t.
This year, women still struggle to get noticed in roles other than those allocated specifically to females – despite the steady increase of women in all spheres of theatre. The entertainment for the evening were some new companies that don’t get used in the mainstream – like Die Nuwe Graskoue Trappers, Lingua Franca Spoken Word Movement or The Sibonele Dance Company – which could bode well for the FDC awards night as a showcase of possibility rather than just the usual suspects. This speaks to the theme of the evening: a fusion of cultures, more than any great plan on the FDC’s part.
FLEUR DU CAP 2016 WINNERS
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEAD ACTOR IN A PLAY: Gerben Kamper for Samsa-masjien as Gregor Samsa
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEAD ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Sandra Prinsloo for Die Seemeeu as Irina Nikolajewna Arkadina
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A PLAY: Sven Ruygrok for Epstein: The Man Who Made the Beatles as This Boy
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Cintaine Schutte for Die Seemeeu as Masja
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A REVUE, CABARET OR ONE-PERSON SHOW: Graham Weir for Dead Yellow Sands as various characters
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEAD ACTOR IN A MUSICAL OR MUSIC THEATRE SHOW: Aubrey Poo for Orpheus in Africa as Orpheus McAdoo
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEAD ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL OR MUSIC THEATRE SHOW: Lynelle Kenned for West Side Story as Maria
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL OR MUSIC THEATRE SHOW: Sne Dladla for Orpheus in Africa as various characters
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL OR MUSIC THEATRE SHOW: Jill Levenberg for Orpheus in Africa as Lucy Moten
AWARD FOR MOST PROMISING STUDENT: Kiroshan Naidoo from UCT
BEST DIRECTOR: Jaco Bouwer for Samsa-masjien
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN Guy de Lancey for Dead Yellow Sands
BEST SET DESIGN Jaco Bouwer for Samsa-masjien
BEST COSTUME DESIGN Birrie le Roux for Orpheus in Africa
BEST SOUND DESIGN, ORIGINAL MUSIC COMPOSITION OR ORIGINAL SCORE: Pierre-Henri Wicomb for Samsa-masjien - Soundscape and original score
BEST NEW SOUTH AFRICAN SCRIPT: Samsamasjien by Willem Anker
ROSALIE VAN DER GUCHT PRIZE FOR NEW DIRECTORS: Mdu Kweyama for Missing
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Dr John Kani
INNOVATION IN THEATRE: Zabalaza Theatre Festival