Fest in a bit: here’s looking at locals

Grocott's Mail takes a look at a couple of local offerings to tantalise your cultural tastebuds in preparation for the 2013 National Art Festival.

Scrape, written by Genna Gardini and directed by Gary Hartley

A number of former Rhodes University students have collaborated with prominent Cape Town artists to create Scrape under the Horse’s Heads Productions Theatre Company.

Adapted from an idea for a short story by Gardini, Scrape is about Beth, an ordinary woman who discovers that she suffers from an unusual condition.

After falling and scraping her knee, Beth makes the discovery that sometimes when skin heals it does so with a vengeance.

Scrape is a one-person show performed by Amy Louise Wilson.

In 50 minutes audiences will be taken through Beth’s complex condition and her process of healing.

Amageza Emveli By Thandazile Madinda, Grahamstown social activist

Thandazile Madinda created Amageza Emveli as a critique of the hybridity and superficiality of the modern African.

Through an exploration of what he calls the “nine spheres of life”, he explores the subconscious mind.

Amageza Emveli ties the subconscious mind to the spiritual self and makes the claim that Africans need to go back to their basic roots in order to interpret the spheres of life successfully.

If we follow society’s trends without questioning their origins, we will never grow spiritually. The play is performed in isiXhosa and uses comedy and satire to emphasise the need for people to take a more spiritual approach to life.

Programmed? By The Writers Movement

In this group initiative by various writers and performers in Grahamstown, Programmed? speaks to the concept of collective thinking and social programming.

What the writers express is distress at the eradication of individuality in society.

Programmed? argues that by categorising humanity into crews and cliques, society is stripping individuals of their authenticity.

In creating the play, The Writers Movement offered personal anecdotes of the various ways in which they feel socially and culturally programmed on a daily basis.

Programmed? has come to life through a rigorous workshop process and presents itself as an advocate for individuality and self-exploration.

Wat die Hart by Hancu Louw and Maude Sandham

When the heart is full, it spills out of the mouth.

This surreal, funny and ridiculous piece was devised to offer Festinos with a taste for die taal, something that director Sandham and co-producer Louw feel is lacking at the Festival.

Playing to the strengths of a diverse and talented ensemble of eight, local students Sandham and Louw aim to celebrate their beloved language and a wealth of Afrikaans literature in three vignettes making up the piece.

These scenes are based on the best and strangest of Afrikaans literature.

Using voice, physical theatre, song and dance, the ensemble hopes to communicate a message that is left wide open to interpretation and is accessible to everyone.