(Saskia Driessen)
Powerful and emotive production opens Musho! Festival.
(Review by Keith Millar)
The 11th
annual edition of the Musho! Festival hit the ground running last night at the
Catalina Theatre, with a sublime performance by Dutch actress Saskia Driessen
in her intense, emotional and very personal production, Leave It to Me.
This biographical
solo work from the Netherlands was written by Barry Hofstede and Saskia
Driessen and translated by Steve Green and is one of the two international
productions which are on offer at the festival this year.
Driessen’s father
was a professional soldier. For as long as she could remember, he was
travelling away from home to areas of conflict around the world. In the summer
of 1995 he was in Bosnia when 8,000 Muslim men and boys, supposedly under the
protection of Dutch United Nations soldiers, were massacred by units of the
Bosnian Serb Army. Her father was one of these UN soldiers.
Her story is about
the influence a soldier’s lifestyle, and the events they witness have on their
family and loved ones back home. It is about the regular farewells, the
constant worries and the need to remain faithful and loyal - to yourself, your
family and of course your homeland.
It is a powerful
and emotive production performed with considerable depth of feeling and passion
by a very skilled and talented artist. Driessen is slight of stature but she
has an imposing and compelling presence on stage. She held her audience in the
palm of her hand, and with the occasional tear in the eye.
It is a pity that
productions at the Musho! Festival are all one-offs as this thought-provoking
work, and Driessen’s fine performance deserve to be seen by a wider audience.
The Musho! Festival,
which is a celebration of smaller theatrical works, all featuring either one or
two actors, is presented by the Performing Arts Network of South Africa (PANSA)
with support from The KZN Performing Arts Trust, Pro-Helvetia and The Swiss
Development Council, The KZN Department of Arts and Culture, The Daily News,
Catalina Theatre and Twist Theatre Development Projects.
Leave It To Me proved to be an impressive start to this
year’s offerings and one cannot help but be excited by what is to follow. To
share the excitement pay a visit to the Catalina Theatre at Wilson’s Wharf
anytime up to Sunday (January 17).
Ticket prices R50
per show (R30 students, pensioners and PANSA paid-up members) booked through
Computicket outlets, telephonically at 0861 915 8000, or online at www.computicket.com
All shows on
Saturday / Sunday at 10h00, 12h00, 14h00 and 16h00 are Pay What You Can.
For more
information contact the PANSA office on 031 201 4750 or email: kzn@pansa.org.za or call the Catalina Theatre on 031 837
7400.- Keith Millar
Posts
