Despite the icy weather, South Africans are continuing to
support the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in their numbers, according
to organisers who announced positive growth for the event at its mid-point
earlier this week.
“At the half way point we were about 6% ahead of last year’s
figures in terms of actual tickets sold, and around 12% ahead in terms of the
rand value of those tickets,” Festival CEO Tony Lankester said. “With a massive
weekend ahead of us, we’re confident that we will see healthy growth for the
Festival in the final tally – which, of course, is very gratifying.”
The Festival programme this year commemorates the 40th
anniversary of its founding in 1974, and the response from patrons has been
“overwhelming”, according to organisers. “A rough count indicates that just
over 200 performances at the Festival this year have been sold out,” Lankester
said. These include performances by the visiting Geneva Ballet Company, which
staged Midsummer Night’s Dream accompanied
by the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, re-boots of Ubu and the Truth Commission and Sylvaine Strike’s smash hit Black and Blue, and the Pieter
Toerien-produced Tony-award winning Vanya
& Sonia & Masha & Spike, as well as numerous performances on
the Fringe.
“We have also seen audiences gravitate to Fringe hits from
previous years, which have returned to Grahamstown – Big Boys 2, Crazy in Love, Gary Thomas, the Snow Goose, Epicene Butcher and Three Little Pigs – as well as brand new productions, including Hamlet! and Bash,” Lankester said. “Audiences are prepared to take some risks
with their hard-earned cash, but companies and artists who have developed a
reputation over the years remain the big winners in the ticket race.”
Performances from visiting international artists, including
Australian beatboxing and musical duo Jamie MacDowell and Tom Thum, the New
York production Machine Makes Man and
the smash hit from the Prague Fringe, Kafka
and Son, have all played to sold out or near capacity houses, with some
tickets remaining for the last few performances.
The Standard Bank Ovation Awards had acknowledged an
unprecedented 13 Fringe premieres by the half way stage, including South African
Music Award nominee Tumi Mogorosi’s Project
ELO and former Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner Princess Mhlongo’s Gogo and Big Sister.
Lankester noted that the Main programme, due to the
Festival’s anniversary, is notably stronger this year than in previous years
and that this will affect the final ticket sales tally.
“I think we will see a bit of a swing toward the Main this
year, in response to the anniversary productions and the overall strength of
the work on the Main. This, together with the expansion of the Main programme
in 2013 to include Solo Theatre work and our featured artist, which in years
gone by may have sat on the Fringe, is seeing a difference in the way sales are
being reported,” Lankester said. “While we note the shift we don’t think it’s
the start of a trend, rather a part of the natural annual ebb and flow between
the two programmes. Audiences, mostly, don’t distinguish between the Main and
Fringe, and seek out quality work wherever it is,” Lankester said.
The implementation of the Festival’s new ticketing system –
acquired from Edinburgh-based company Red 61 – has been deemed a success by
organisers, notwithstanding some “inevitable” teething problems.
“The introduction of a system which prints tens of thousands
of tickets, and its integration into our website, was always going to present
some challenges and inconveniences, but the response to the system has been
overwhelmingly positive and we’ve learned a lot which will be incorporated into
how we do things in years to come,” Lankester said. 2014 also the introduction
of a smart-phone enabled App, which enables visitors to book tickets instantly
and find their way around town. “Someone commented on our Facebook page that it
was nice to see the Festival modernizing in line with other global festivals –
and we have to agree!” Lankester said.
The Festival closes at the end of today (July 13), and finishes
with a ‘50% Fringe’ day which sees producers slash prices to all performances
in a last push to fill theatres. “Of the remaining performances there are
several which are completely sold out – such as Lira, Hugh Masekela and Matthew
Mole’s performance with Nakhane Toure – but there are thousands of seats still
available to hundreds of other performances, spanning theatre, music, comedy,
cabaret, dance and more. We look forward to a great closing weekend,” Lankester
concluded.
Tickets can be purchased through the website www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
or 0860 002 004 or click on the NAF banner at the top of this page.
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