(Reviews from the
artSMart team currently in Grahamstown at the National Arts Festival)
Powerful, intense and moving dramatic work brilliantly
performed by David Butler. (Review by Keith Millar)
Winner of a Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award at the 2013
National Arts Festival, The Bram Fischer
Waltz is back this year and once again causing a stir amongst festival
goers. Written and directed by Harry Kalmer and brilliantly performed by the
renowned David Butler, it is a powerful, intense and moving dramatic work.
Bram Fischer was a complex and intriguing character. He was
born into a privileged Afrikaner family. His father was Judge President of the
Orange Free State and his grandfather had been Prime Minister of the Orange
River Colony. His wife was the niece of South African statesman Jan Smuts. A
lawyer by profession, Fisher studied at Oxford University. He even played rugby
for the Orange Free State.
However, rather than enjoy a life of luxury and privilege,
he gave it all up to pursue his beliefs and principles as a Marxist and
anti-apartheid activist.
As an internationally respected lawyer, he defended Nelson
Mandela at the Rivonia trial. Persecuted by the authorities for his beliefs, he
was forced to flee the country. He returned, however, to continue the fight
against apartheid. After a period of 290 days on the run he was arrested and,
refusing to renounce his belief in communism, was sentenced to life
imprisonment.
The play is dramatically staged in a Pretoria prison cell
where Fischer is incarcerated. He is overwhelmed by the loneliness and boredom
of his situation as he looks back over his past as a communist activist. He
talks of his admiration for his comrades such as Nelson Mandela and Walter
Sisulu.
He also tells of the heartbreak of his beloved wife’s death
in a car accident. In his mind he imagines they are still dancing to their
favourite waltz.
Harry Kalmer’s The
Bram Fischer Waltz is a masterpiece. It is beautifully and poetically
written and brings to life one of South Africa lesser remembered struggle
heroes.
David Butler is quite superb in his portrayal of this great
man. It is a tour de force performance
of heartfelt strength and emotion. He gives it his all and leaves his audience
moved and spent.
The Bram Fischer Waltz
will be on at the Glennie Hall at the Festival until July 13. – Keith Millar
For more information
on the National Arts Festival click on the banner advert at the top of this
page or visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
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