NAF UNUSUAL SPACES

Unusual performance spaces are a feature of the 38th National Arts Festival, which runs from June 28 to July 8 in Grahamstown this year.

Festival audiences will be able to immerse themselves in an exciting and adventurous array of performance art presentations that will be on offer on stages, in museums, galleries and unusual public spaces (taxi ranks, libraries, car parks), and also in places which up to now have not been used as conventional festival spaces.

The innovative and cutting edge group of performance artists are headlined by Steven Cohen who is no stranger to the European festival circuit but will make his first appearance on the National Arts Festival stage together with Nomsa Dlamini, his 90-year-old co-performer in The Cradle of Humankind.

Brett Bailey’s Third World Bunfight company has maintained its position at the forefront of South African performance throughout its 16-year history, and has a strong international presence. Tickets to his Grahamstown performances typically generate the highest demand, and 2012 should be no different. This year, in his production Exhibit A, he will explore the theme of human zoos where, between the mid 19th Century to the Second World War, people from the non-Western world were exhibited.

Presented as part of The French Season in South Africa, the Cien Non Nova Theatre Company will make its South African debut with two productions: Vortex and Afternoon of a Foehn. Both are highly innovative pieces of work which utilise an artificial wind chamber to delicately and magically manipulate plastic dancers.

Audiences can expect to see provocative works from many other acclaimed performance artists, including the likes of Mauritian-born architect/artist/performer Doung Anwar Jahangeer, Standard Bank Encore Award winner Gavin Krastin, conceptual artist Randolph Hartzenberg and new media artists Gerald Machona and Athi-Patra Ruga.

Free performances will be available every day during the 11-day Festival as a part of the Public Art programme, which is aimed at entertaining family audiences. Presented as part of The French Season in South Africa, Nounouche – The Sideshow will stop at a number of places, catching the public by surprise and inviting them to step inside and play.

Lunchbox Theatre will weave a bit of storytelling magic to help a wedding party challenge a group of greedy developers to conserve the natural environment, in The Tree Show. The China Fujian Art Troupe of dancers, acrobats and musicians work together to play Chinese instruments in a spectacular way that will mesmerise their audiences. Festinos can also take a bus journey from the Drostdy Arch and be entertained by taxi-styled praise poets and singers en route to a site-specific performance at one of Grahamstown’s most historical sites, St Philips Mission School.

The Festival will end with colour and frivolity in a Street Parade, where anyone with an ounce of enthusiasm can join a throng of giant puppets, stilt-walkers and 25 cartoon characters to parade through the streets of Grahamstown.

Bookings for this year’s “11 Days of Amaz!ng” is now open and tickets are available through Computicket. Booking kits from selected Standard Bank branches, selected Exclusive Books and Computicket branches from May. For more information on the programme, accommodation and travel options click on the large banner advert at the top of this page or visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Also join the National Arts Festival group on Facebook for all the latest news, or follow us on Twitter.

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