(Aaron McIlroy in “Comedy Masterclass”)
From fresh, edgy
works to crowd-pleasers, the Cape Town Fringe’s 2016 programme is jammed with
theatre, music, physical performances, comedy and family fare in a 17-day
theatre binge that will be calling Capetonians from their couches.
The extended run of
September 22 to October 8 sees the Cape Town Fringe focus on innovative works
and interesting productions that shake-up the notion of theatre and bring
creative and engaging performances to new audiences.
The programme has
been reimagined to accommodate more night-time performances in keeping with the
city rhythms but extends into the day on weekends and school holidays.
Productions from KwaZulu-Natal include highly popular
musical show, The Glitter Girls, with
Lisa Bobbert, Marion Loudon and Liesl Coppin. The award-winning production is
directed by Aaron McIlroy and choreographed by
Shelley Haggard.
Aaron McIlroy will present his extremely successful Comedy Masterclass which is directed by Patrick Kenny.
Another production with strong KZN links is Out of Bounds written by former Durban
actor/writer/director Rajesh Gopie who now lives in Johannesburg. Out of Bounds is directed by Crizelle
Anthony and features Tailyn Ramsamy and Tazme Pillay.
This year, festival
guest creative director, Rob Murray, convened a selection committee to ensure
that the programme hits the sweet spot between being a platform for innovative,
experimental pieces and presenting a “thoroughly entertaining” collection of
works that are short, sharp and interesting.
“Theatre-makers and
artists are responding to the call for work that talks to our times. The
committee has been encouraged to see that artists are hungry to share their
stories and we feel that this programme presents audiences with an exciting mix
of edgy Fringe in its truest sense and some must-see productions that have been
well received nationally and internationally,” Murray said.
One such production
is Police Cops from the UK’s Pretend
Men. The production won 'The Stage award for acting excellence – Best Ensemble'
at the Brighton Fringe, as well as several other critical acknowledgements. The
production is described as an ‘adrenaline-fuelled, three-man cop parody
featuring supercharged physical theatre, cinematic style and uncompromising
facial hair.’ From New York comes the steamy prog-rock Odysseus Finn, featuring Michael McQuilken, who also performs and
directs Machine Makes Man, winner of
the 2013 Amsterdam Fringe Best International Production that also wowed crowds
at the 2014 National Arts Festival.
Amongst this year’s
Standard Bank Ovation Award Winners being staged at the Cape Town Fringe is Rob
van Vuuren’s darkly brilliant Dangled,
clown-satirist Klara van Wyk in You Suck
and Other Inescapable Truths, Alan Parker’s sublime physical theatre piece Sacre for One, Lexi Meier’s Fabric of the Universe, an immersive,
tactile installation involving 250 kg of crocheted yarn, and Falling off the Horn from Grahamstown’s
Uyabona Ke, a piece dealing with xenophobia that debuted at the 2016 National
Arts Festival.
The Baxter’s
Zabalaza Festival presents four shows on the Cape Town Fringe: the musical
production The Addis Ababa Assembly
as well as Sonwabo Mphandle’s theatre piece, Alunamda, Luntu Masiza’s Ubudoda
and Ralph May & Co’s Gelapte Pop.
Women continue to
carry the activist torch with Niqabi
Ninja, a take on male harassment and the female response during the Cairo
uprising. Songs for Khwezi was
created prior to the #RememberKhwezi protest but continues to expose this
important narrative and Mamela Nyamza will debut her new work De-Apart-Hate at the Cape Town Fringe.
Sugar Daddy Theatre will revive Eve Ensler’s classic V-Day in a once-off fundraiser for charity starring Marlisa
Doubell, and from Nigeria comes WAIT,
a play about issues of access to university experienced by African women.
Afrikaans audiences
can expect some interesting work including that of ground-breaking new artist
Jason Jacobs who will present Stofrooi
which looks at the challenges of matric learners, and Terence Makapan’s tale of
unlikely friendships, Kinders van die
Wind.
Cape Town Fringe
will once again have its hub at the Cape Town City Hall but also spreads into
venues at the Alexander Bar, Khayelitsha’s Theatre in the Backyard and Guga
S’Thebe as well as Observatory’s new AFDA Theatre.
The inaugural Cape
Town Buskers’ Festival, in partnership with the V&A Waterfront, forms part
of the Cape Town Fringe and sees free, outdoor sessions at the V&A
Waterfront from October 5 to 8, from an array of international and local public
theatre talents.
Comedy also
features with Rob van Vuuren’s Very Big
Comedy Show. Perpetual crowd-pleaser Butlers
and Broadway returns and magic and illusion on the line-up include Marcel
Oudejans, Brendan Peel, Greg Gelb and Stuart Lightbody.
On the music
programme, two must-see collabs between powerful female vocalists are Maya
Spector and Asanda Mqiki in Vocal
Explosion. Mqiki also teams up with astonishing Eastern Cape artists
Nombasa and Msaki in Diva Night. The
artists also perform in solo shows.
Emma van Heyn adds
to this chorus of female voices, while much-loved bands the Nomadic Orchestra
and Hatchetman will take to the stage. Coming from Gauteng are Acoustiq
Assassins and Blaqseed.
This year’s Cape
Town Fringe family fare will reach more little people than ever with a schools
outreach programme. Says Cape Town Fringe CEO, Tony Lankester, “Through our
partnership with the City of Cape Town we are gearing up to take several
productions to schools across the Peninsula ahead of the Cape Town Fringe and
we will run a daytime programme for families on both the weekends and during
the school holidays. Our aim is to inspire a new generation of theatre
audiences, doers and dreamers.”
Other confirmed
productions include a new production from The Jungle Theatre Company and
Puppetrix’s CityGull / StadMeeu. For
older children Hearts of War’s Words of
War, SA classic Woza Albert! and
Ubuntu Arts Theatre’s Silent Cries
will ignite and inspire.
“Standard
Bank is proud to have been a sponsor of the Cape Town Fringe Festival since its
inception in 2014. We are delighted to be part of its growth and are especially
encouraged to support an event which attracts younger audiences while also
giving new and emerging talent a platform to showcase their work. We look
forward to a great festival. ” says Hazel Chimhandamba, Head, Standard
Bank Group Sponsorships.
Online booking for
the Cape Town Fringe can be made at www.capetownfringe.co.za or visit https://www.capetownfringe.co.za/events
for more information
Follow Cape Town
Fringe on Twitter @CTFringe / Facebook www.Facebook.com/capetownfringe and Instagram @ctfringe - hashtag #CTFringe
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