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Some 14 productions by staff and students
from the University of the Witwatersrand will
keep Joburg's talents in the spotlight at the annual National Arts Festival.
JOZI artists will have a strong presence at
the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown this year, with 14 productions from Wits
lecturers and students on the festival circuit.
Warren Nebe's Woza Joshua
The annual national festival runs from 2
and 11 July. Lecturers and students from the University of the Witwatersrand's School of Arts have presented productions at the
10-day culture smorgasbord for more than 20 years.
Productions this year cover genres from
comedy to poetry.
Greg Homann will debut as a playwright with
his comedy, Previously Owned. It is the story of three 20-somethings who are
employed at a second-hand bookstore in Melville. Each comes with their own
baggage - one is an aspiring filmmaker, another is a struggling actress and the
third arrives to destabilise their weekly routine.
Warren Nebe, a festival veteran, will present three
works - Hayani, ID Pending and Woza Joshua. Hayani reflects
on the meanings of home in South
Africa through two stories that search for
an understanding of what it means to be South African. This tale is told
together with live music.
ID Pending is a humorous play about
youngsters living in South Africa,
while Woza Joshua looks at the story of Zimbabwe. It comprises politicians,
people suffering, losing hope for peace and learning survival tactics. An
expected messiah, "uMsindisi" brings about talks and people's hopes are
invigorated.
Politics
Tsepo Wa Mamatu, a political playwright, will showcase Mbeki and Other
Nitemares, in which infighting, jealousy and greed are explored. The play looks
at the downfall of former president Thabo Mbeki and the nightmares he may have
had.
Jane O'Connell and Jenni-Lee Crewe will show
two new physical theatre works, Carbon and Paydirt. Carbon investigates
conflicting situations and experiences in which people find themselves, while Paydirt
is about a city with many names, a place of promise and terror.
Grace Meadows and Denzel Edgar will present
an Aids play entitled The Truth About You. It promises a fresh outlook on HIV
in a performance that probes the human psyche in order to find out who people
are. Their play attempts to activate the mind and promote alternative ways of thinking,
say Meadows and Edgar.
Bailey Snyman and Nicola Haskins will bring
a mimetic clowning piece called Le Carnaval de Ma Vie. It's a French-inspired
love story showing how people enter and leave each other's lives and the fact
that endings can be seen as beginnings.
Senior students will exhibit five of their
productions. Jessica Lejowa directs The Wages of Sin, which challenges the
cast, director and audience to imagine alternative ways of existing in the
world. It's a piece about women who, at a certain point, become oblivious to
the world. This celebrates the imagination and potential of African women.
Poetry
Lidija Marelic will direct the production Duduetsang. This combination of slam
poetry, an urban street poetry contest in which the audience awards points to
the performers, and theatre is used to express the joys and fears of South
African youth.
Them and I, directed by Nina Ristic,
follows a woman in her search for the perfect movement. Lozenge is a piece
about the way we try to overcome hurdles and suppress the pain they cause. It
uses the body as a canvas to display an understanding of social concerns.
And finally, Kung Fu Crazy is about a
peasant boy who vows revenge after his family is killed. He sets off to learn
the martial art of Drunken Iron Crouching Furious Monkey Fist from a master.
The School of Art
also plans to do its bit for community development through an outreach
programme. Productions will be performed in surrounding areas of Grahamstown, free
of charge. The Truth About You, ID Pending and Them and I are among those that
will be performed.
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