By CASEY LUDICK “I should be clapping for y’all,” says singer Christelle Ilunga (aka Elle, the artist) after leaning in to let the crowd sing along. Despite the troubling commute and distance from the inner city, The Black Power Station is packed wall to wall for the Supper and Sounds event. A group of South African artists entertain us with a mix of music and spoken word poetry that moves the soul. The night progresses under the watchful guidance of Lerato Motaung, a Rhodes University student and member of the NGO, FixingZar, which is collaborating with the NAF and The Black…
Author: Rod Amner
By ELEJHA-ZE GENGAN Every year many Fringe artists risk it all for their love of the arts, sharing their ardour with others to connect and bring people together. Started in 2010, the Standard Bank Ovation Awards honour and show appreciation for the risk these artists take to make and share their art. Fringe artists pay a fee to be a part of NAF, often travelling lost distances to perform their works. Receiving an Ovation Award is much like a standing ovation, but instead of applause, the productions are celebrated with a prize that symbolises a deep appreciation and recognition for…
THEATRE: The Ward Councilor Review By KEREN BANZA Greed can kill. When pushed against a corner, the power-hungry are driven to extreme measures to keep that power. Witness intra-ANC assassinations. Corruption has saturated South African politics. Greedy politicians lurk in every corner. The Ward Councilor, directed by Nefale Pfano, takes audiences on a journey into the events leading to the death of politician John Phakhathi, commenting on how politicians abandon the people they are meant to serve and reflecting on the ongoing murderous violence between those contesting positions of power. Some moments depict violent acts, hence the 16-age restriction, but comedic…
COMEDY: Rob van Vuuren is still standingReview by DANA OSBORN After swearing that 2019 was his last show, Rob van Vuuren is back at the National Arts Festival following what seemed like a rather tumultuous lockdown period. Divorce, Covid, near-death experiences, and he is Still Standing. Loadshedding forced a change of venues a few hours before the show, which caused a bit of a wait while NAF staff worked to get another venue ready. As 9 pm approached, the cold weather seemed to get to a few members of the crowd. Let me tell you; it was well worth the…
DANCE: Is Everything Connected?Review by DANA OSBORN Two dancers, a man and a woman, move on stage. Sometimes only one is visible, but the other is always present. They move between solitude and unison. It is sometimes unclear which limbs belong to who, as the two, entangled, roll across the stage. In the dance work, Is Everything Connected? the audience is asked to contemplate the relations between different things. The way night is defined in opposition to day, how the sea is marked out by its distance from land, and by what means people are demarcated as different to each…
By STEVE KRETZMANN, Cue arts editor and The Critter editor Festival’s halfway mark has slipped by in a haze of plays, exhibitions, conversations, drinks, meals, and occasional showers as concepts and ideas stack up, interlinking and winding their way into every facet of life, layering the mundane and prosaic with meaning. During the compressed, concentrated existence within the Festival, small talk involves exchanging thoughts and observations on theatrical and artistic productions and discussing what is next to see on the programme. As Fest barrels toward the final weekend, there is always the Fear of Missing Out lurking on the sidelines,…
By JENNA KRETZMANN Having given up working in a clay factory to make functional, domestic works of art out of earth and fire, local ceramicist Meshack Masuku is passing on his skills to the next generation. Acting more as an exhibition than a Village Green stall, Meshack Ceramics is hard to miss. Customers of all ages cluster around his display. My mother fondles a delicately decorated vase that I am not sure will survive the drive back to East London and an aloe-decorated serving bowl big enough to hold food for a large family. Others look at colourful bowls, plates,…
DANCE: Dust Review by DANA OSBORN Dust is an intriguing medium. Its movement is governed by nothing and no one. Millions of individual particles drift in all directions, falling, swirling, and colliding with one another. It holds endless potential for the spontaneous, the erratic, and the unpredictable. Its incorporation into dance allows it to act as a medium of interaction, mimicry, and inspiration. Did the experimental contemporary dance piece Dust capitalise on the opportunities this spirited medium brings? In the beginning, the choreography is beautiful. Four dancers are on stage, moving simultaneously yet incongruously, reminiscent of Merce Cunningham’s Chance Dance…
MUSICAL THEATRE: The Crime Scene Review by MZWANDILE MAMAILA Everyone has a story to tell no matter how badly they have sinned. The musical theatre production, The Crime Scene, tells the story of a troubled young man raised by his single mother in a poverty-stricken home. This man has given his life to gangsterism, drugs, and alcoholism because of the empty void he feels inside. An isiXhosa rap song plays in the background, the stage covered with yellow police tape. It sets the mood for a crime tale and is perfected by Siphumzile Pharela’s menacing aesthetic. Pharela plays a feared and despised…
THEATRE: EmsiniReview by GRACE MOYA The post-colonial architecture of a corrugated-iron house takes the centre stage. Next to the small tin shack is a salvaged, worn-out bed. On the floor lie a considerable number of books, invoking in mind the words of the late activist and philosopher Steve Biko: “It is better to die for an idea that will live than to live for an idea that will die.” Focused on a conversation between an elderly man and a young woman who is on the run from two murderous criminals, Emsini is a production exploring the rift between two generations…