Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Arts festival offers stream of culture
THE show must go on for comedians and musicians at the virtual National Arts Festival.
Despite having had to forgo a physical presence traditionally held in the Eastern Cape city of Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown), the annual event has taken on a digital presence with a full schedule of shows and performances.
“We are immensely proud of the work that has been produced,” said the festival’s chief executive Monica Newton. “It lives up to what we believe to be the role of the festival to produce diverse, challenging and relevant work. It is up to the audience to decide whether our efforts have been successful.”
Tickets for the festival went on sale on Friday. Audience can purchase a day pass for R80 while an all-access pass for the full 11 days is available for R600.
Tickets for shows on the Virtual Fringe are priced individually. The Virtual Gallery will be free to access, and customers can roam the Virtual Village Green and browse vendor items for sale. Passes for the annual Standard Bank Jazz Festival, which has remained a part of the line-up, cost R500.
Offering up a selection of musical performances at this year’s festival is the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra.
The orchestra will be making several appearances in different ensemble performances including the Schubert Trout Quintet, Dvorak Winds Serenade,
and Mozart’s Divertimento. This, despite having not been able to rehearse during the last two months.
“It was a huge relief to come back to work and play together with colleagues,” said orchestra principal cellist Peter Martens. “Despite the fact that we’ve had stringent social distancing regulations imposed upon us, we were allowed to take our masks off while we were actually recording.”
Martens said the ensemble only met two to three times for two-hour sessions to rehearse as a group leading up to the recording, with online group rehearsals proving impossible due to internet speed issues.
In addition to performing with the ensemble, Martens will also be making a solo appearance at the festival performing the Bach Suites, a collection composed by the German composer for an unaccompanied cello.
Martens is confident that despite not appearing in person as per previous shows, the audience will respond positively to the recordings.
It’s not all pre-recorded material at the festival. Comedy veteran Rob van Vuuren is set to bring his Very
Big Comedy Show back to the event for the eighth year in a row in a live format, bringing some of SA’s top entertainers for an entertaining evening.
“We are doing a show that is not straight stand-up, instead we are doing a live show via Zoom where I have a conversation with each of my guests and we go through stories of their worst gigs ever,” Van Vuuren explained.
Comedians that Van Vuuren confirmed to be making an appearance include Lindy Johnson, Kagiso Lediga, Alan Committee, Robby Collins, and Tumi Morake.
The comedians are expected to be recording from all corners of the country, while Morake will be tuning in from the US.
Though adapting to a format where limited audience response and participation is possible, Van Vuuren hoped that the show would be a hit.
“The festival is keeping a close eye on developments with regard to cinemas opening under level 3, and should it be at all possible, we will screen performances for the enjoyment of the residents of Makhanda,” said Newton.