Grahamstown’s
National Arts Festival is determined to prove that life begins at 40 as it
announces a programme that “reaches into our past and launches us into the
future” for its 40th anniversary to be held from July 3 to 13 this year. The
landmark edition will feature some of the Festival’s most accomplished alumni,
as well as strong new artistic voices from across the country and, through
various partnerships, from more than 20 other countries.
“There are many
demands and expectations made on us this year, given the significant histories
of the Festival and of the country, but we are confident that we have pulled
together a programme that will challenge and inspire audiences and participants
alike,” says Festival Artistic Director Ismail Mahomed.
The Standard Bank
Young Artist Award winners remain a primary focus for the Festival, bolstered
this year by the presence of many previous winners in recognition of the 30th
anniversary of Standard Bank’s sponsorship of the Award.
Theatre Award
winner Greg Homann’s Oedipus @ Koö-Nú!
is based on the tragedy Oedipus at
Colonus by Sophocles, reworked as a playful allegory offering a subversive
and satirical take on the past, present, and future of South Africa's complex
political landscape. Performance Art Award winner Donna Kukama will present The Museum of Non-Permanence: a series
of events, encounters, interactions, and public announcements taking place in
various public sites; interrogating our relationships with our complex
histories. Carving out a unique place between the disciplines of dance and
theatre, Dance Award winner Nicola Elliott’s work focuses on the body’s ability
to tell its story, confronting physical experience through a theatrical medium.
In Bruising, she explores the
dichotomy of tensions that exist between the inner and outer worlds in our
individual notions of love.
Music Award winner
Njabulo Madlala will showcase his vocal talents in a varied programme that
includes songs from the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Schubert and Strauss
and the South African Songbook. Capetonian pianist, saxophonist and composer
Kyle Shepherd is the Award winner for Jazz. Ten years ago, this prodigiously
talented young man performed in Grahamstown as a member of the Standard Bank
National Schools Big Band; now he stands on that same stage on the cusp of a
career that promises to be significant for South African jazz. Kyle performs in
a quintet and trio with the likes of Shane Cooper, Feya Faku and Buddy Wells.
This year the Award
for Visual Art is shared by twins Hasan and Husain Essop, who promise to
beguile with their particular aesthetic and socio-political perspective. A
challenging Film Festival programme, co-sponsored by the National Film and
Video Foundation, includes a showcase of work by Film Award winner, Jahmil XT
Qubeka (including the now infamous Of
Good Report, and A Small Town Called
Descent).
A highlight of a
power-packed Theatre programme this year is a line-up of eight productions
written, directed or adapted by previous Standard Bank Young Artist winners.
Together they represent some of South Africa’s most contemporary and cutting
edge theatre-makers, so the Festival is proud to be staging these: Lara Foot’s Fishers Of Hope; Aubrey Sekhabi’s Marikana - The Musical; Mpumelelo Paul
Grootboom’s Protest; Geoffrey Hyland
directing Slowly; Marthinus Basson’s Macbeth.Slapeloos; and Princess Zinzi Mhlongo directing Cooking with Elisa.
The Programme also
features exciting inter-genre collaborations such as Ubu and the Truth Commission – with original direction and
animation by William Kentridge and this revival directed by Janni Younge, and Cargo: Precious - a unique collaboration
between four Young Artist Award winners: director Sylvaine Strike,
choreographer PJ Sabbagha, musician Concord Nkabinde and dancer Fana
Tshabalala.
The work of
accomplished director Sylvaine Strike comes into sharp focus at the Festival
this year with her being named as the Featured Artist on the programme. Since
her first break-through at the National Arts Festival in 2002, Sylvaine
Strike’s work has moved hearts and minds to earn her a list of accolades.
Strike’s Featured Artist programme comprises five productions, namely CARGO: Precious on the Festival’s dance
programme, On the Harmful Effects of
Tobacco with Andrew Buckland, and the much awaited return of Black and Blue, all on the Main
Festival. Two of her latest shows, Agreed
and The God Complex appear on the
Fringe Festival. She says, “Now, perhaps more than ever, the role of the artist
in South Africa has reached a critical point and demands redefining: courage in
the face of political, social and economical adversity; and producing work of
high quality that cannot afford to compromise its purpose or voice on any
level.”
The 2nd Season of
Solo Theatre showcases nine solo productions which explore cultural values,
racial politics, sexual identity and a range of narratives that draw on the
personal and the political, augmented by the launch of a book of South African
Solo Plays.
Following the
successful France-South Africa Seasons, productions forming part of the UK-SA
Season will feature on the programme. Lemn Sissay – a Festival hit in 2010 –
returns to share the stage with performance poets Lebo Mashile and Phillippa
Yaa de Villiers, and Adura Onashile’s multi-award winning one-person play HeLa, will make its South African
premiere at the Festival following a successful presentation on the Edinburgh
Fringe where it dominated the award season in 2013.
Ruth Simbao, who
curated a provocative Performance Art programme in 2012, is once again at the
helm of a collaborative collection of five site-situational performance works
that will be spread across the city, under the umbrella title Blind Spot.
The Grand Ballet de
Geneve will make their South African debut in Grahamstown with Le Songe D’une Nuit D’été (A Midsummer
Night’s Dream), choreographed by Michael Kelemenis and accompanied by the
KZN Philharmonic Orchestra. Nile is a
collaboration between French/Swiss choreographers Compagnie 7273 and American
guitarist Sir Richard Bishop, and aims to capture the undulating nature of the
Nile River through a striking combination of dance and music. Provocative
productions by significant newer voices in 20/20 Visions, and Festival veterans
Alfred Hinkel and Tossie van Tonder, bring local gravitas to the Dance
offering.
With probably the
strongest component of new compositions and music from Africa ever to be
presented on the Festival’s Main Music programme, the festival affirms South
Africa’s identity on the continent and its vibrant versatility on the world’s
stages with repertoires chosen from across the globe.
Audiences will be
thrilled by programmes such as Magdalene Minnaar (soprano) and Magda de Vries
(Marimba and percussion) in Ritual; the Odeion String Quartet performing Homage; and Christopher Duigan’s piano
recital juxtaposing the music of Beethoven and South African jazz pianist and
composer Abdullah Ibrahim. Fans of South African music will be treated to a
retrospective of South African Rock from the past 20 years, performed by Arno
Carstens and Francois van Coke; while the next generation of contemporary voices
is being represented by rising stars and multiple SAMA-Award nominees Nakhane
Touré and Matthew Mole.
The Standard Bank
Jazz Festival incorporates a variety of disciplines into their programme with
highlights such as multi Grammy award-winning composer, conductor and performer
Maria Schneider who will be performing in South Africa for the first time;
world-renowned flugelhornist, trumpeter, bandleader, composer, singer and
political voice Hugh Masekela; multi platinum award-winning South African
singer/songwriter Lira performing her signature fusion of soul and funk with
elements of jazz and African music; an unmissable collaboration between Dan
Patlansky and Albert Frost; and SAMA winner and well-loved local musician Jimmy
Dludlu.
A special
international Festival Big Band will pay tribute to some of the greats of South
African jazz; and a new Jazz Festival venue - the Standard Bank Jazz &
Blues Cafe at St. Aidan’s - promises to keep feet tapping well into the early
hours of the morning.
This year, there is
a free public art performance on every single day of the Festival - the
Festival’s birthday gift to everyone who wants to take part in the festivities,
but who cannot afford to buy a ticket. A must-see on this programme is Herbert’s Dream - a visual spectacle by
a French street theatre company that, since its creation in 1997, has been
performed over 400 times at all the major festivals around the globe.
The introduction of
digital media programming in the Public Arts realm allows for new opportunities.
Analogue Eye is one of the most
exciting developments at the Festival – it will present works of artists from
13 African countries through a mobile drive-in theatre and pop-up cinema
experience created and curated by Brent Meistre. Audiences can P(AR)TAKE in another exciting
digitally-driven experience – a virtual tour of South African contemporary
dance curated by Jeanette Ginslov, using Augmented Reality (AR) on their mobile
devices.
In addition to a
series of conceptually innovative exhibitions, South Africa’s strong Visual Art
history comes to the fore with exhibitions such as Impressions of Rorke’s Drift – The Jumuna Collection, and 14/30 - the Goodman Gallery’s
celebration of the Standard Bank Young Artists who are represented by them.
Curated by Neil Dundas and Lara Koseff, 14/30
showcases a combination of historical and current work; celebrating both the
30th anniversary of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award, as well as the
historical link between the Goodman Gallery and this prestigious national
prize. An exhibition of work by Wim Botha featuring his Study of the Epic Mundane, will give festival audiences a glimpse
of what was exhibited at the South African Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale.
The Arena programme
continues to showcase the ingenuity of artists recognised through the Standard
Bank Ovation Awards and International Fringe Juries; and the open-access Fringe
supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund – this year with over
400 productions scheduled – can be counted on to generate a plethora of
audience opportunities.
The Think Fest
programme, sponsored by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, brings
together thought leaders, trendsetters and provocateurs in a powerful series of
debates and talks. Media partner, City Press, contribute to the robust
conversation with a series of post-performance discussions that span the
Theatre programme.
“This programme
presents an amazing array of work which all adds up to a massive birthday
celebration for the Festival. The Festival has come a long way and played a
hugely important role in our country over the last four decades, and our
programme hopefully reflects that role.” says Festival CEO Tony Lankester.
“Most importantly, it sets the tone for the next stage of our journey – the
next 40 years.”
Bookings for the
2014 National Arts Festival open on May 9 and can be made online through the
website www.nationalartsfestival.co.za. Programmes can be obtained through
selected Exclusive Books and Standard Bank branches from the beginning of May.
The National Arts
Festival is sponsored by Standard Bank, The National Lottery Distribution Trust
Fund, Eastern Cape Government, Department of Arts and Culture, City Press and M
Net.
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