A premiere of a play based on the life of Albertina Sisulu featuring recent Grahamstown visitor, Thembi Mtshali, a celebration of the life of Ruth First and another SA premiere from director Lara Foot with Grahamstown's Andrew Buckland are all part of the National Arts Festival (NAF) 2016 programme announced this morning at an event in Johannesburg.
A premiere of a play based on the life of Albertina Sisulu featuring recent Grahamstown visitor, Thembi Mtshali, a celebration of the life of Ruth First and another SA premiere from director Lara Foot with Grahamstown's Andrew Buckland are all part of the National Arts Festival (NAF) 2016 programme announced this morning at an event in Johannesburg.
This year, almost 80% of the main programme is either written, directed, curated or headlined by women.
The Festival runs from 30 June to 10 July and other highlights include SA hip hop star Aka, a tribute to Fort Hare's Can Themba featuring Sello Maake kaNcube and the gala concert from the Eastern Cape Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Richard Cock.
Ismail Mahomed, NAF Artistic Director, said he had relied on history to provide the context for building this year's programme, which, he said, creates space not for nostalgia but for critical reflection, analysis and re-invention.
"While this is a challenging time for South Africa, and the arts sector in particular, we are proud to present a programme that is artistically strong, textured in its expression, and effectively representative of the diversity of the South African arts sector," Mahomed said.
Acclaimed playwright, director and producer Lara Foot is 2016's Featured Artist.
Foot, the chief executive and artistic director of the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, will premiere The Inconvenience of Wings. Set in a landscape of memory and dreams, it features Andrew Buckland, Mncedisi Shabangu and Jennifer Steyn. Foot will also restage two of her previous works: the award-winning Karoo Moose, starring the original cast; and Tshepang, the poetic and redemptive telling of one of South Africa's most brutal stories.
OoMaSisulu, based on the life of Albertina Sisulu and performed by Thembi Mtshali (Mother to Mother), will premiere at this year's festival.
Also featured is Noka Ya Bokamoso, artist Lerato Shadi's exploration of the representation of the black female body and Looking/Seeing/Being/Disappearing, choreographed and performed by Nadine Joseph which explores the representation of the 'disappearing woman' in contemporary South Africa.
This year’s solo theatre festival, which is supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands, comprises eight inspired one-handers about women, performed by women. "The stories celebrate the compassion, tenacity and integrity with which women engage in their political landscapes," Mahomed said. The productions include Ruth First: 117 Days (performed by Jackie Rens).
The Film Festival complements the solo programme with a series of films about female political activists. The voices of women as well as those of the LGBT community and the youth have been crucial in helping to secure rights for South Africans – and this year, the 40th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising – we celebrate that contribution to our freedom. THINK!FEST, a programme of lectures and debates that runs for the duration of the Festival, includes a focus on parallels between the 1976 uprisings and the #FeesMustFall movement.
There are also several productions specifically relevant to the Eastern Cape This NAF honours Fort Hare University's 100th anniversary by featuring two productions centred on literary icon, Can Themba (a Fort Hare alumnus): Crepuscule, a fictional take on the love affair between Themba and Jean Hart in 1950s Sophiatown; and the biographical The House of Truth, with acclaimed actor Sello Maake kaNcube.
The Gala Concert this year will be presented by the Eastern Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Richard Cock. Violinist Avigail Bushakevitz, this year’s Standard Bank Young Artist for Music, will perform with the orchestra at the Sunday afternoon concert.
The Eastern Cape Ensemble programme will feature performances by indigenous music and jazz groups from across the province. In African Piano, New York-based South African pianist Kathleen Tagg will take the audience through works for piano by African classical composers and those deeply influenced by the music of central Africa to arrangements of music as diverse as Zimbabwean mbira music, Malian kora songs and original compositions.
The Standard Bank Young Artist Award winners are, say the Festival, taking on issues around identity, representation and change. Dance winner Themba Mbuli is partnering with the Unmute Dance Company to present Sold!, a theatrical reclamation of historical identity through conversation in the present. The work of Mohau Modisakeng, winner for Visual Arts, engages with questions of history, body and place within a post-apartheid society, while Theatre winner Jade Bowers is due to present her daring interpretation of Scorched, exploring the nuances of identity and difference, way beyond the simple black-white binary of our apartheid past.
Racial, cultural, sexual and historical identity are also examined in photographer Zanele Muholi's Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail, the Dark Lioness), which confronts the politics of race and pigment in the photographic archive, while Drama for Life's Afri-Queer intimately engages with the lives of gay men.
An exploration of national and personal identity is at the heart of Janni Younge’s reimagining of Stravinsky's much-loved ballet, The Firebird. By using contemporary choreography and giant puppets together with the thematic and narrative structure of the original, Younge is able to find free and powerful expression.
Two international productions from the 2015 Amsterdam Fringe will round off the Arena programme, travelling to Grahamstown as part of an ongoing partnership between the two events: Barrera, in which two clowns despair the loss of their closest friend, and The Futurists, an experimental musical journey unlike anything you’ve ever heard.
Deepening international collaboration sees Kabosh, a theatre company from Northern Ireland, presenting the South African premiere of the emotionally charged Those You Pass in the Street, which interrogates reconciliation through integration of the personal with the political.
The National Arts Festival continues to strengthen its relationship with South America, bringing exciting new acts: Uruguayan musician Mateo Mera and Colombian vallenato grassroots artist Alvaro Meza. An Afro-Latin vibe will be carried through by Ladies of the Midnight Blue, a duo passionate about social equality and change.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Festival's collaboration with the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS). The anniversary will be highlighted with IFAS's support across a number of productions, such as Les Cenci, an intermedial performance that explores mental illness, violence and theatrical cruelty through the life of French poet, essayist, actor and theatre director Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud; and Songs Without Words From Three Generations, a piano recital by Ammiel Bushakevitz.
The Standard Bank Jazz Festival offers a selection of some of the hottest sounds, including vocalist Siya Makuzeni, this year’s Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for Jazz, who will lead a stellar ensemble of young South African musicians.
Also on the programme are headliners Ringo Madlingozi and Caiphus Semenya, as well as bands and artists from Brazil, the Netherlands, the UK, France, Sweden and Austria.
Festival-goers can look forward to a diverse and engaging National Lottery Fringe programme where there are more than 360 productions on offer across all genres.
"This year's National Arts Festival takes place at a fascinating time in our country's history and growth," said Tony Lankester, the Festival’s chief executive. "On our stages, you’ll find insightful, cutting commentary on life in South Africa, reflecting the anger, pride, defiance, determination and hope of an emerging generation of artists.
"These are conversations all South Africans should be part of. If you’ve ever thought of coming to Grahamstown, this is the year to do it. More than ever the voices of our artists deserve to be heard and engaged with, so why not make this the year?"
Booking for the 2016 National Arts Festival opens on 9 May.
Website: www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
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Twitter: @artsfestival
