Exciting drama, music and
dance as well as crafts, topical discussions and fun, free entertainment have
been confirmed by Durban’s Playhouse Company for the 23rd South African Women’s
Arts Festival (SAWAF), an event coinciding with August being Women’s Month.
Celebrating works performed,
created or inspired by women, this year’s event will be held, as usual, in
various venues in the city-centre Playhouse complex, from Wednesday to Saturday,
August 7 to 10, 2019.
The festival is an
annual highlight on the calendar of The Playhouse Company, an agency of the
Department of Arts and Culture, which embraces the government’s principles of
social cohesion and nation-building.
(Right: Lisa Bobbert in "Shirley Valentine")
The SAWAF drama offering
this year is a classic – Willy Russell’s celebrated comedy-drama, Shirley Valentine, which will be staged
at 19h30 daily from Thursday to Saturday, August 8 to 10,
in the Playhouse Drama.
By turns amusing and poignant, Shirley Valentine was turned into a
popular film in 1989. It is a delightful play with an uplifting theme, focusing
on an individual with lost dreams and a lack of
purpose, who then discovers the opportunity and courage to change her life for
the better.
Shirley Valentine stars Durban darling Lisa
Bobbert (My Fair Lady, Abbamaniacs,
Cabaret, Little Shop of Horrors, Glitter Girls, Into the Woods) in a tour de force performance that saw her
receive three Durban Theatre Awards in 2008: Best Actress, Best Solo
Performance and Best Comic Performance (Female).
Tickets for this
must-see stage treat range in price from R120 to R150 and can be bought at the
Playhouse box-office – phone 031 3699 596/40 – or online and at Pick N pay
outlets via WebTickets (the customer support line is 086 111 0005).
(Left: Image from "Trafficked")
Also a must
for the diary is Trafficked, a
dance-drama by Phakama Dance Theatre, a professional dance company
based at the Playhouse. The troupe was developed as part of the Playhouse’s
Dance Residency Programme. Dancers Leagan Peffer, Nkanyiso Kunene and Sandile
Mkhize form part of the dance troupe.
Mkhize, who is the dance company’s artistic
director, has choreographed Trafficked,
a work offering insight into the abduction of young
girls who are forced into slavery and human trafficking. It is inspired
by the story of Saartjie Baartman, who was exhibited
as a freak show attraction in 19th-century Europe.
Trafficked will have festival performances in the Playhouse Loft on August 7
at 10h00, on August 8 at 10h00 and noon, on August 9 at 19h00, and on August 10
at 14h30 and 19h00.
Tickets R30 for 10h00 and noon
performances and R80 for all other performances can be bought at the Playhouse box-office – phone 031 3699 596/40 – or
online and at Pick N Pay outlets via WebTickets (the customer support line is
086 111 0005).
(Right: Dawn Thandeka King)
The festival’s music
highlight will be the Traditional Extravaganza Concert at 19h00 on Women’s Day, August 9, in the Playhouse’s Opera.
Directed by
award-winning Durban theatre personality Clare Mortimer, this concert will
highlight such glittering talents as celebrated singer-actress and musician Tu
Nokwe; internationally renowned and award-winning African ‘Queen of Ndebele’
music, Dr Nothembi Mkhwebane;
maskandi groups Vumile Mngoma and Izingane Zoma; and, as the show host, popular musician, motivational
speaker Dawn Thandeka
King.
Tickets range in price
from R120 to R150 and can be bought at the Playhouse box-office – phone 031 369
9596/40 – or online and at Pick N Pay outlets via WebTickets (the customer
support line is 086 111 0005).
(Right: Lu Dlamini)
Among free festival events
will be a Sundowner Concert on August
9 and 10 at 17h00 in the Playhouse Foyer.
On the Friday, the spotlight will be on The Lilitha
Band, while the free Saturday Sundowner Concert will showcase jazz-soul singer
Simthandile Mtolo, an SA Idols
contestant from season 10, who has performed in theatre productions, featured
at the MTN Jazz Festival (KZN) in 2012, and impressed at
the Durban Business Fair Gala Dinner, opening for Mafikizolo, in 2013.
Mtolo will share the stage on Saturday with popular
local singer Lu Dlamini, who has worked with Brenda Fassie, Sipho ‘Hotstix’
Mabuse, Mango Groove, Steve Newman and Sankomota, among others. She composes her own music, with lyrics in Zulu,
Portuguese and English, and in 2016 released her Ulimi-Lami album at Durban’s Playhouse.
Also among free events at the festival this year
will be a colourful Kiddies Fun Day,
from 11h00 on August 10, in the Playhouse’s A1 venue. Attractions will include
entertainment by Madala Kunene and Mandla Mantsha.
A comprehensive display
of crafts, curated by Hlengiwe Dube, will be in the Playhouse complex
throughout the festival, while a free dialogue session, Mental Health Awareness, has been planned for 15h00 on August 9, in
the Alhambra Room. Scheduled to tackle a theme of “don’t suffer in silence;
don’t suffer alone; let’s talk”, it will feature contributions from social
workers, a healthcare practitioner and a
development manager at Black Umbrellas. Facilitation
will be by Slindile Xhakaza, a dynamic youth mentor who advocates empowerment
of women.
A free dialogue session titled
Ethical Living, curated by Beatrice
Okyere-Manu, has been scheduled for noon on August 10, in the Alhambra Room. Okyere-Manu
is a senior lecturer at the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics at
the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is the programme director for Applied
Ethics and a member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, the Theological
Society of South Africa, Globethics and The Collaborative for HIV and Aids,
Religion and Theology (CHART).
Ethical
Living will focus on success stories of South Africans
from different walks of life, people who have carved careers and raised
families on principles based on ethical and sustainable living. Discussion
will centre on ethics and
moral values, particularly with regard to consumerism, sustainability,
environmentalism, wildlife and animal welfare. The discussion panel will include Dr Herbert Moyo, a professor at the UKZN
School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics; Zenande Khumalo, a young businesswoman whose main focus is
business ethics; and Robin
Opperman, who owns Umcebo Design, which creates artworks from recycled and
reclaimed materials.
For more information
visit playhousecompany.com
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