NAF DAY #3: JULY 2, 2012

artSMart Editor Caroline Smart reports from Grahamstown at the National Arts Festival

Sitting calmly at a table covered with a white tablecloth, a couple sits comfortably exchanging warm and loving looks with their hands occasionally touching – a pleasing sight of togetherness. To the right stands a man in a tailcoat. He is alone, wearing a hat and carrying an umbrella. This is the intriguing scenario that greets audiences as they move into Dream, Brother written by Duncan Buwalda and acknowledged Winner of the Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award for Drama 2011.

While I may have been fairly ignorant of this Cape Town writer’s work until a few months ago, I am now much attuned to his rhythms and dynamics. I am also a great admirer of his writing after having had the honour of directing his Hinterland for the 2012 PANSA/NLDTF Festival of Reading of New Writing.

Directed by Tara Notcutt, Dream, Brother features Carel Nel, Cintaine Schutte and Johann Vermaak – all putting in fine performances and making the most of the text and the ironic humour it contains. Mixing the past and the present, the play can be read in a number of ways – there are three characters. One man is a psychiatrist, the other a writer and the female is an artist. A wife succumbs to a snake-bite, another wife is left mentally damaged following a rape. The psychiatrist is looking for answers. Does he find them?

ReVerseis presented by the National Arts Festival’s Arena Programme in association with the Past Paleontological Scientific Trust. This is a demanding physical theatre piece directed by Sylvaine Strike-Nakar and performed by Greg Melvill-Smith and Craig Morris.

The production looks at issues of the evolution of homo sapiens through the eyes of two rival scientists. The one (Morris) considers himself the darling of the media and is swept away by its hype – as well as the attentions of the beautiful Feliwe – while the other (Melvill-Smith) is considered more of a plodder. However, it is the latter who overthrows the former by invalidating his theories and suddenly the beautiful Feliwe turns her attentions on him.

In between the academic cut and thrust, Melvill-Smith and Morris morph into ape forms and what follows are fascinating sections of ape behaviour – all accurately and respectfully depicted. There is also much humour in this piece, especially the King Kong imagery. All kudos to the performers for a compelling show.

Last show of the day was Twelve performed in Dicks at the Monument, the very first venue I ever performed in at Festival way back in the dim recesses of history!

Written and directed by Dhaveshan Govender and featuring Mpume Mthombeni and Shika Budhoo, this is an interesting and ambitious production in the making. It carries a valued message about the future of the planet but needs more development before it can make a stronger impact.

A newswoman and her photographer are on an important mission. Their journey is difficult and long, as well as being a thirsty one. They have been commissioned to write the story on The End of the World. However, the map is of little use as landmarks like trees and rivers no longer exist. Hence they are lost.

Both actresses are very versatile and we get to see them play a number of characters. In a sequence where she plays a CellC call centre operator, Budhoo shines in an array of the considerable number of accents she has at her command. Mthombeni is a delight as the constantly bemused Bushman, an old lady or a volatile preacher. While there is much humour in the piece, the imagery of sharing – not a bottle of water, but a capful - offers a very powerful image. Heaven forbid we ever destroy the planet to that extent.

It’s been a glorious day in Grahamstown today as the festival recovers from the chaotic weekend influx and settles down to “real festino” time.

One of the talked-about productions is Flying Lessons which is a workshop facilitated by two Johannesburg-based Rhodes University graduates, Tamara Guhrs and Craig Morris, who show the audience how to create a production – step-by-step. The idea is to demystify the creative theatre process and judging by the comments I’ve been overhearing for the last few days from those who have attended the workshops, it’s been a great success.