NAF STUDENT FESTIVAL

Every year the National Arts Festival, taking place this year from June 30 to July 10, presents productions developed on University campuses across South Africa in the Student Theatre programme. The often-unconventional work gives a glimpse of the emerging talent coming through the ranks of the performing arts departments from different provinces, and also provides a window to the worldviews of the emerging generation of arts practitioners in the country.

Debbie Robertson has written and directs Rhodes University's Taste, starring Bianca Binneman, Zano Mthembu, Megan Wright, Edward Pepperell, Dumisa Lengwati, Bryce Woodiwiss and Elisha Mudly. A secluded weekend away leads to some dark and intriguing discoveries for a gathering of people. As an intruder is brought into their fold, what begins as fun and frivolous starts to simmer into something increasingly malignant.

The Tshwane University of Technology’s Cleansed stars Mornè Steyn, Monique du Toit, Pieter Jonker, Kifilwe Mohlabane, Vianney Farmer, Mpumi Sithole and Sandile Mdludli. Written by Sarah Kane and directed by Gavin Matthys, the central theme of the play is that of a sister searching for a lost brother. It explores what a lover is truthfully willing to offer or sacrifice for another. The sadistic character, Tinker, that serves as a torturer / psychiatrist in an institution drives the characters to the extremes of pain to find out what power love has over them. Kane removes the mechanics of explanatory narrative and presents the audience with a series of poetic images and pared dialogue.

The University of the Western Cape brings Khululekani Emakhaya (be free in your homes). In this collaborative production, directed by D’bi Young, the cast questions the notion of ‘home’. Is it a safe and secure space? Is it a space of acceptance? Is South Africa ‘home’ to all the displaced people and the Diaspora who come here filled with all kinds of hopes and dreams? The production focuses on different ways of liberating this ‘place called home’.

Durban University of Technology’s La Conscientia is written and directed by Radwinn Paul van Wyk. The earth cries, her children die. ‘Let there be light’ – refracted and broken by the invisible darkness enveloping her epidermis, a primitive future seems fantastical to the natural. Colours are audible and thoughts can be touched, the inner being of humanity becomes a coliseum and the roar for peace becomes transparent by the breathlessness of our mother earth sweating blood. Her redemption is pending in the cathedral of the chosen.

Mem-Re is a University Of Stellenbosch physical theatre production that explores the inner landscape of remembrance and recollection. Choreographed and directed by Dayne Nel, the audience will be prompted to reflect on their own experiences. Vocabulary for this production was generated through the use of improvisation and the input of the performers themselves that capture and reflect their own personal experiences.

Directed and adapted by Phala Ookeditse from Franz Kafka’s A Report to an Academy, the University of the Witwatersrand’s Red Peter’s Way Out is focused on the complexities of identity in post-apartheid South Africa. The adaptation presents an opportunity for the audience to reflect on their own layered identities as co-created by society.

The University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg Campus brings Metamorphosis, with Vicky Khumalo, Sparky Xulu, Debbie Dottridge, Kwanele Thusi, Edward Lloyd and Stella Dlangalala. Written by Adam Steyn (in collaboration with the cast), and directed by Adam Steyn, it adapts Franz Kafka’s story about a middle class family whose eldest son turns into a beetle to represent the milieu and ideology of a rural Zulu family. The family has to continually deny the existence of the beetle in their midst, while juggling their own fears and the expectations of the outside world. This concept has resonance with our South African realities where family members are transformed by AIDS, and where stigmatisation continues to determine our responses to illness and tragedy.

The University of Kwazulu-Natal Durban Campus brings Splinters, written by Amy Wilson and Donna Steel, designed by Amy Wilson. The production is a harrowing autopsy on an almost taboo word in society: bullying.

The University of Pretoria’s Ororo, written and directed by Nico Scheepers explores female agency and empowerment in the context of race, gender and sexuality.

The University of the Free State’s Seven Guitars is written by August Wilson and directed by Prof. Charles Dumas and Karabelo Lekalake. The production explores the hope, heartbreak, and heritage of the African-American experience in the 20th century. The story follows a small group of friends who gather after the death of Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton, a local blues guitarist on the edge of stardom. Together, they reminisce about his short life and discover the unspoken passion and undying spirit that lives within each of them.

City Varsity’s The Domain, written and directed by Francesco Nassimbenni, is a genre defying fantasy drama exploring what it means to ‘just be yourself’ in an increasingly unreal world. In The Domain, six usernames patrol the border. An alert to their profiles has brought them to the fence. These are the six who discovered The Domain, the last untouched limit, the farthest reach. They’ve shaped it to be whatever they want it to be. An ideal land. A paradise.

Seven / VII is written by the University of Cape Town’s 4th year Theatre and Performance Theatre students and directed by Thenjiwe Stemela. Everyday a prominent Member of Parliament sits on the same old bench, in the same city park, reading the newspaper while getting his shoes shined. At the end of a particularly long, but ordinary day, he returns home and attempts to remove his shoes before retiring to bed. However, for some unfathomable reason, he cannot remove the shoes from his feet. After giving up, he eventually falls asleep with his shoes on and wakes up to discover that things are not quite the same as they were the day before.

Whether its politics, culture or love – it will be pulled out of the box and made to answer in The Market Theatre Laboratory’s Touched, directed by Thato Malebye and Jerry Khauwe. “We are born clean and unconfused. We touch the world and the world touches us. But as we grow its no longer as easy as “playing house”. Responsibilities and temptations will darken our souls. And before we know it – our lives are over. The ‘youth of today’ are too often pigeon-holed and dismissed. Society tells us we are responsible for the trend of ignorance; that we’re only interested in the quick-fix: that we’re only trying our luck. As if they were never young once.”

Bookings for this year’s “11 Days of Amaz!ng” are open. Tickets are available through Computicket. Booking kits available from selected Standard Bank Branches, selected Exclusive Books and all Computickets. For more information on the programme, accommodation and travel options visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Also join the National Arts Festival group on Facebook for all the latest competitions and news, or follow us on Twitter.

The National Arts Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The Eastern Cape Government, The National Arts Council, The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, The Sunday Independent and M Net.