Author: Rod Amner

By CASEY LUDICK A group of six high school learners are learning the reporting ropes at this year’s festival. In an innovative collaboration with Rhodes School of Journalism and Media Studies and Cue, the Victoria Girls’ (VG) High learners have been involved in a pilot project, providing news from the National Schools Festival, running concurrently with the National Arts Festival.  The project is inspired by Upstart, a community outreach programme previously run by Rhodes journalism. The new program is spearheaded by lecturer Gillian Rennie, who says she was “impressed by their commitment, energy and smartness”.  Rennie says her exposure to…

Two collectives, Spaza and orangcosong, took up residencies at the National Arts Festival and created projects that speak to the town and the spaces they found themselves in, writes ATIYYAH KHAN for New Frame. As the National Arts Festival evolves, adding artist residencies marks a new shift in its programme. It has allowed different artists to create work in response to and from Makhanda. Two collectives, the experimental, ever-evolving musical outfit Spaza and the Japanese art collective orangcosong were selected for this year’s residencies.  Spaza, curated by Mushroom Hour Half Hour, arrived in Makhanda from Johannesburg five days before the…

PERFORMANCE ART: Engeki questReview by SONIA SAJJABI When we think about theatre, we may think of a stage, actors, and a script (most times). However, traditionally staged performances are often detached from the communities in which they are staged. This gap between artist and community inspired Chikara Fujiwara, a Japanese theatre critic, to create a form of theatre that immerses you within the community. In Engeki Quest, geography becomes your stage. After travelling through 11 cities and doing 22 works, Fujiwara and Minori Sumiyoshima journeyed to South Africa to create this version of theatre in Makhanda. They walked through the…

MUSICAL THEATRE: African sonReview by GRACE MOYA Many South African struggle heroes died in exile and were buried away from their home countries. Moses Kotane was one such hero of liberation. He represented the struggles faced by many freedom fighters – courageous men and women who stood up for their moral principles in the face of violent repression.  African Son is a musical theatre production showcasing the remarkable life of SA Communist Party leader Moses Kotane, who studied at the Lenin School in Moscow and was one of the first activists to be banned under the Suppression of Communism Act.…

MULTIMEDIA PERFORMANCE: Hullo, Bu-Bye, Koko, Come InReview by SAM VAN HEERDEN and NYX MCLEAN Dressed in a white spandex-like suit and shimmering high heels, Koleka Putuma summons Brenda Fassie’s ghost. “You see me, but you don’t see into me,” says Fassie to the media, her face projected onto a white sheet on stage, “I’m yours.” In Hullo, Bu-Bye, Koko, Come In, the audience is asked to consider whose lives are considered lives, whose bodies are given names, and whose histories are remembered, without spectacle and superficial artifice substituting recognition for attention. “We have come to bear witness here,” Koleka Putuma…

MUSIC: NombasaPreview by ZIMKITA LINYANA Acclaimed Makhanda-born singer-songwriter Nombasa, takes to the stage on Thursday 30 June and Saturday 2 July with her infectious fusion of Afro-soul and acoustic folk. She writes evocative music which speaks to South Africa’s socio-political issues and the vast fabric of its identity. She said it could be challenging to pin down her genre and sound: “Any listener of my music is left to their own classification and interpretation”.  “My music challenges you to face yourself, whatever the circumstances, and also celebrate parts of yourself,” Nombasa said. She has shared stages with the likes of Msaki,…

THEATRE: HamletReview By ARNO CORNELISSEN Show, don’t tell. The actors and puppeteers do precisely that, turning Shakespeare’s timeless play into a visually immersive performance, the expressive faces of the puppets as engaging and sinuous as rippling cloth. Hamlet, directed by Janni Younge, is skilfully innovative. The choreography is eloquent, the puppets enhancing rather than constraining the actors’ work without burdening the stage with unnecessary gimmicks or dead weight. The focus is perfectly balanced between puppets and actors, at times moving as one and at others intentionally separating. Set and lighting are wonderfully matched, with flowing material adorning the puppets, each…

MUSICAL THEATRE: Bhuti is a beastReview by MZWANDILE MAMAILA South African communities are clouded by a dark cloud of predators who preying on young children. Directed and written by Xabiso Zweni, Bhuti is the Beast is a visual art and musical theatre production depicting “Imoto Eba Abantwana (a car that steals children)”, a township myth about a horrific beast who feeds on children’s blood. Jubilant teenagers from Walmer Township in Gqeberha filled the City Hall stage, bestowing a spark of energy upon the audience as they danced and sang. Using children to raise awareness about children’s issues was the best…

EXHIBITION: Marikana Ten Years OnReview by CASEY LUDICK After weeks of conflict, heavily armed police opened fire on striking workers at Lonmin Mines in Marikana on August 16, 2012. Of the 112 miners shot, 34 were killed, leaving 78 severely wounded. Some of the miners killed were not just shot; they were executed. Each one was part of a family: someone’s father, son, husband, lover. And what happens to the families who were left behind? What happens when the cameras leave and the tears dry up?  This is the question Marikana Ten Years On seeks to answer and, in so…

THEATRE: The Gukurahundi Genocide (TGG)Review by CASEY LUDICK The sangoma cries as she remembers the fallen, the victims of the wars happening in South Africa and Zimbabwe in 1982. She illuminates the dead by candlelight as her daughter, bathed in blue light, calls out to the fallen. “The storm is coming,” warn the survivors of liberation struggles, but as they go to sit down, the soldiers around them begin laughing, and one survivor’s mind crumbles. The Gukurahundi Genocide (TGG) is a hard-hitting theatrical performance dealing with the realities of war. It looks at major events and key figures that have…