Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
The theatre of spring
Festivals and stimulating productions usher in the new season inthe
THERE are two new festivals to herald spring: the Artscape Heritage Festival, which started on Thursday and runs until September 27, and The Voorkamerfest which is on next weekend, September 4 to 6, in Darling.
Then there’s the acclaimed drama Woman Alone at the Baxter from Monday until September 19, starring Lee-Ann van Rooi, and Janice Honeyman’s The Merry Widow of Malagawi – which she is directing for Cape Town Opera – featuring comic Alan Committie at Artscape from September 5-12.
Artscapes’s festival pays tribute to Heritage month and is a mix of music, poetry, dance, dialogue, installation and drama. I am looking forward to seeing Rust Co-Operative’s much talked about play, Siembamba (September 3-12). The story centres on the relationship between a woman in her 20s (played by Nieke Lombard) and the domestic worker (Lesoko Seabe) who helped to raise her. The play was on last year at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival and the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and now we are finally seeing it. It won a Silver Ovation in Grahamstown, an honourable mention at Amsterdam Fringe and was runner-up for best international production.
What makes the Voorkamerfest so different to other festivals – and a sheer joy to attend – is the element of surprise. One hops on a minibus taxi which takes you on a route to see three bonsai shows ( 20- 30 minutes each) which are staged in homes of residents in the town.
It takes the schlep out of agonising over what to see.
It’s the 13th edition of the festival which was started by Dutch impresarios and theatre-makers Wim Visser and Inge Bos, with Darling’s famous resident Pieter- Dirk Uys.
This year, the line-up has a particularly strong Dutch presence with Dutch company Matzer Theatre putting on a show and a mixed masala of locally brewed plays. Ubhejane, the Last One? – performed by Nhlanhla Mhkwanazi – looks intriguing. Mhkwanazi nabbed a Silver Ovation award at the National Arts Festival and I can imagine how his riveting style of storytelling will work in the intimacy of a Darling front-room. He explains: “Ubhejane is Zulu for black rhino. The play follows a journey of a lonely black rhino bull who lives deep in the bush far away from the villages in fear of losing his life and horn to poachers. This is a new piece which is created and designed especially for the Voorkamerfest with a possibility of growing it to a full-length family piece afterwards”.
Back in Cape Town, at the Baxter from Monday, there’s Woman Alone. This drama (which premiered at the NAF) has been adapted by Christo Davids from South African nurse Dannelene Noach’s book about her experience working as a clinical co-ordinator for a specialised service hospital consortium in Riyadh from 2001 to 2007, where she came face-to-face with the healthcare anguish of thousands of Saudi women.
She spent 99 days in a Saudi Arabian jail.
Fleur du Cap winner LeeAnn van Rooi reflects about the play: “Dannelene is a hero in my eyes. We share the same motto ‘ hou blink kant bo’ – ‘in the face of adversity, play fair, face the danger and show them our best side’. I wish I had her faith, her strength and her willpower. What happened to Dannelene has happened to many people before her. There are those who managed to escape and those who did not. She is a survivor because she chose to live, every day, every hour, every minute.”
Don’t forget to check out Committie in The Merry Widow of Malagawi (September 5 to 12, Artscape). It’s his first role in an opera. Bravo to Cape Town Opera for producing this fresh adaptation of Franz Lehár’s work, with lyrics and dialogue written by Janice Honeyman, who also directs.
This looks like a deliciously off-the-wall production. ● Ticket prices vary for productions and events at the Artscape Heritage Festival and some show are free. Woman Alone’s tickets are R110; The Merry Widow of Malagawi’s tickets are R125, R250, R320. Bookings at Computicket 0861 9158000/www.computicket.com. Buy tickets for the Voorkamerfest on 082 3217542 or www.darling-voorkamerfest.co.za – from R195 to R235.