grapevine 2nd edition 21 july 2014
DESCRIPTION
Official media partner of the Krêkvars Student Arts Festival at the University of Pretoria.TRANSCRIPT
21 July 2014 [email protected] You heard it here first
Lillian Selapisa and Pieter van der Lillian Selapisa and Pieter van der Lillian Selapisa and Pieter van der Lillian Selapisa and Pieter van der Merwe Merwe Merwe Merwe
W ith a theatrical work in which a horse race track is turned into a killing
field for love, so begins this year’s Krêkvars Student Arts Festival.
Anna K, based on the horse race scene in Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (1877), was the UP Dra-ma Department’s official physical theatre production for this year’s National Arts festival in Graham-stown.
The work is choreographed by Bailey Snyman, a lecturer at the
Drama Department and also the 2013 Standard Bank Young Artist award winner for dance, alongside frequent collaborator Nicola Haskins, a master’s Drama student who won various awards (including the Ovation Award in 2011).
Snyman said their piece is not based on Anna Karenina but rather inspired by it. He chose to focus on one moment from the original novel to portray the destructive powers of love through movement.
From the stables to the race track, a dark battle ensues between the characters. “They are willing to destroy each other’s relationships to
fulfil their own relationships and desires,” said Snyman.
Snyman chose the title Anna K because he did not want people to make too many associations with Tolstoy’s novel. He said it’s not an exact re-telling of the story. Although the audience may be familiar with the original story, they should expect something different.
The production is a 50-minute long performance with seven cast members. The piece is much faster than conventional contemporary dance. “It will smack you in the face,” said Snyman.
Love trampled on racetrack
The physical theatre production, Anna K features Michal Swann (left), Bailey Snyman and Noxolo Dlamini
(right). They are pictured here at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Photos: ANDRÉ COETZEE
21 July 2014 P 2
Tech crews enjoy own bit of drama
P reparing for a theatre pro-duction is like studying for a final exam only it is more
scary. As audience members sit com-
fortably, enjoying the entertainment of these productions, the technical crew are nervously biting their nails hoping that everything runs smoothly.
Bailey Snyman, Krêkvars Stu-dent Arts Festival’s Technical Direc-tor, who is also a Drama lecturer at the University of Pretoria, sits in the tech box located at the back of the theatre. He is guiding the stu-dents in charge of lights and sound.
This award winning dance chore-ographer says with an event such as Krêkvars, tech briefings start as early as 7am and teams are allocat-ed to different productions.
“It is long hours. Lots of people want to organise things at the last minute that haven’t been requested before, and we just do it with a
smile on the face doing the best that we can with the limited resources that we have,” said Snyman.
Most technical assistants are first year drama students. They are gaining valuable experience and skills in working at Krêkvars.
There are three teams assigned to five productions which form part of the technical crew.
Stage manager for DieBoek, John Attfield, says teamwork is es-sential when working on a produc-tion.
“Each person will be in charge of a different aspect such as lighting, sound; and I have to ensure the work gets done.”
Performers are not the only ones who will be aiming for the best quality when Krêkvars opens.
Snyman says he aims for the technical crew to produce quality for each shows so that the audience will see it is as being well planned and not just a student based arts festival, but a festival that has a special edge to it.
A member of the Red Ream tech-
nical crew working at the Masker
theatre during a rehearsal for Die
Benoeming.
Photo: SHERNELL PATHER
Robyn Baragwanath
DECIDING WHICH performances to attend at an arts festival can be quite daunting. To combat this problem, organisers at the Krêkvars Student Arts Festival have introduced ShortCuts - a preview of things to come.
According to festival organizer Missy Maguire, ShortCuts is an interactive, live form of advertising that allows artists to give a brief preview of their work to potential audiences. This, Maguire hopes, will give festivalgoers a better sense of what Krêkvars has to offer than a two-dimensional poster.
ShortCuts will be shown at 15:00 daily throughout the festival. Each hour long slot will comprise of several ‘short cuts’ from various performances and will be per-formed in the Drama Quad.
Each ShortCut performance will last approximately five minutes.
Time for a quick look Show your talent, test your
knowledge at ‘Die Bok’
Eréne Oberholzer and Pieter van Eréne Oberholzer and Pieter van Eréne Oberholzer and Pieter van Eréne Oberholzer and Pieter van
der Merweder Merweder Merweder Merwe
PERFORMERS AND festivalgoers will again have a place to unwind during this year’s Krêkvars Student Arts Festival .
Die Bok, run by second year Drama students, serves food and beverages and hosts a number of competitions. It can be found next to the Lier theatre.
The Mr and Mrs Krêkvars com-petition makes its return, with the winners decided through a series of events. Entry is open to anyone.
The events include a talent com-petition, a question and answer event, a couples dance competition and a unique version of the popular reality television show, The Amaz-ing Race.
Those who are interested in try-ing their luck, can enter for Mr and Mrs Krêkvars at Die Bok, starting today from 8:00.
The winners will be crowned on Saturday evening at 18:00.
Poetry evenings, a dance compe-tition and a foosball tournament will form part of the entertainment for the week.
Entrance for the events at Die Bok are free.
Krêkvars will showcase around 40 performances.
These vary from theatre, physi-cal theatre, comedy and drama to performance art.
The week-long festival starts today and the first performance is at 09:00. Tickets are available at iTickets.co.za (R15) as well as at the theatre doors (R20).
Shernell PatherShernell PatherShernell PatherShernell Pather
Danielle de Bruyn
T he ambassador of Panama to
South Africa, Roderigo
Chiari, is reviving a forty-
year-old play for this year‟s
Krêkvars Student Arts Festival
stage.
Ambassador Chiari wrote,
directed, produced and starred in
Miller PI: L.A. Charades, which was
originally called Mrs Wellbourne‟s Lost Jewels Affair, when it was first
showcased in 1975. Chiari was a
teenager then. The play, which is a
dark comedy, was originally written
in english.
Miller PI follows the story of an
amateur detective, Ryan Miller,
who is tasked with finding the
stolen jewels of a wealthy lady from
Los Angeles, Mrs Wellbourne.
“Sharing my knowledge and ex-
perience with this generation is why
I still love to do this,” said Chiari.
He said the young South African
actors he is working with in this
production give him hope for drama
in this country.
“I want to give back to the young
talent in this country. If I can teach
them something then I am happy.”
According to him the future
looks bright for acting, not just in a
South African context. He feels that
by directing this play he is able to
give the students another oppor-
tunity to learn about acting.
“This festival is a way for you as
students and for members of the
public to support your drama
students and to see what the future
of South African drama is going to
be like,” said Chiari.
∎ Miller PI: L..A. Charades will be
on stage in the Masker between
24 July and 26 July.
Foreign support for local talent
21 July 2014 P 3
From left: Matthew Luyt, Jo-Anne McQuirk and Roderigo Chiari during
a tech review for Miller PI: L.A. Charades.
Photo: DANIELLE DE BRUYN
Puppets say what people are not allowed to Lucy Davey
WOULD YOU take notice of what a
puppet says to you? For the first
time Krêkvars will be presenting a
form of art that is often overlooked:
puppetry.
The Small Puppet Theatre will
be open every day of the festival
from 10:30 to 12:00, 14:30 to 16:00
and in the evenings from 19:00 to
late. The locations will be alternat-
ing between Oom Gert se Plek, the
IT building and Agriculture Annexe
building.
Small Puppet Theatre will be
showcasing a number of shows
throughout the week.
“It will be a mobile theatre, like
an old fashioned TV, that can move
around and reach people that are
not part of the Drama Department,”
explained producer Corné Joubert.
“It is very exploratory,” said
Joubert. The shows will allow mem-
bers of the public the opportunity to
participate and interact with the
puppets. From hand-made paper
puppets to traditional hand puppets,
the show will give people the chance
to express their own thoughts and
ideas.
“A puppet can say things that a
person isn‟t allowed to,” said
Joubert.
The Small Puppet Theatre shies
away from the traditional concept of
puppetry as different themes will be
explored including gender and polit-
ical issues.
The show will also serve as a
platform to promote other Krêkvars
productions.
“A range of puppets will be avail-
able for people to advertise their
own shows,” said director Lizl Lom-
bard.
Due to its experimental nature,
there will be improvisation. There
will be an open mic for people who
want to perform slam poetry and
music. Musician Jay Schoeman will
perform an acoustic set on friday. A
photo booth will also be available to
capture the moment.
The shows are free of charge,
aimed at bringing the theatre to the
people.
∎ For more information contact
Lizl Lombard on: 072 436 2067 or
alternatively visit
www.facebook.com/
smallmobilepuppettheatre.
21 July 2014 P 4
Lisa Kahimbaara
W alking between the
campus kiosk and the
Lier theatre, Mona
Monyane is stopped by three
security guards asking to take a
photo of her. “I don’t think I’ll ever
get used to people recognising me,”
she says looking bemused.
Monyane’s new found fame comes
from landing the role of
Nthabeleng on the popular
SABC2 soap, Muvhango.
Acting is not the only aspect of
performance the 24-year-old is
passionate about: Mavis is the
fourth play she is showcasing at
the Krêkvars Student Arts Festi-
val.
“You are either a vessel or you
create, sometimes you can be both.
I’ve always believed in using my
craft to get people to think or help
people to heal,” says Monyane.
Mavis is about domestic workers
and the plight of these silent
members of society.
Monyane says that the idea
came to her on her trips home
from work. “We see these ladies J sitting on the grass on the side of
the road in their uniform chatting
away and I wondered what they
were talking about,” she says,
“they are the most undervalued
members of society but they do
such important work; they take
care of people’s children and
homes.” Monyane wanted to ex-
plore the idea of what would hap-
pen if these silent labourers were
given a microphone. “Imagine if
the maids at Nkandla would just
take a moment and tell us a sto-
ry!” she says with a smile. Though
she admits that the play is littered
with comedic moments, she be-
lieves that Mavis deals with a
very serious topic.
“These are voiceless members of
society and we take for granted
that these are human beings with
stories of their own. You can’t just
always be telling stories of the
elite,” says Monyane.
Although Monyane did not
speak to domestic workers while
writing the play, she believes that
observation and an accumulation
of encounters enabled her to tell
their story.
She listened to domestic work-
ers in taxis talking about the frus-
tration they feel towards their
“madams”. Monyane’s grandmoth-
er was a domestic worker which
also helped her writing process.
Monyane completed her drama
degree in 2011 at UP and is hope-
ful about the future of her career.
“I’ve been working in the industry
for three years. Though I’m ex-
tremely grateful for my new role
on TV this is not my first rodeo.”
‘Muvhango’ star comes back to stage
Mona Monyane
Photo: LISA KAHIMBAARA
The cast of Mavis rehearsing. Photo: MONA MONYANE
21 July 2014 P 5
Ilka van Schalkwyk
EVER SINCE Myer Taub arrived
at the University of Pretoria in
2011 to take up his teaching post
in the Drama Department, he has
been working on DieBoek, a deri-
vation of the original Yiddish play
Dybbuk written by S. Ansky in
1914.
It took three years for Taub to
create his version of DieBoek, with
tweaks here and there until a new
story began to emerge.
The play is about a young Jew-
ish girl who is possessed by a de-
mon the night before her wedding.
In Taub’s version the girl Leah is
shipwrecked and displaced. She is
also South African as the Afri-
kaans title implies.
Taub, who has blurred the dis-
tinction between fine art and per-
formance in his academic career,
has been fascinated by the idea of
adaptation for a while.
He has been challenged by “how
to adapt previous works into new
works” and is pleased to finally
have one under his belt. He want-
ed to play with the idea of a text
within a text which then creates a
new text.
In the play the lead character,
Leah, emerges from one text into
another causing ructions all
around and through this disturb-
ance a new story or text unfolds.
Growing up in Johannesburg as
a gay Jewish child placed Myer
Taub in a unique position.
His parents were middle class
Johannesburg Jews. His culture,
his sexuality and his love of dra-
ma has served him well; he has
gone on to become a writer, direc-
tor and performance artist.
“Art in South Africa is extraordi-
nary” says Taub, “More and more
people are becoming interested in
the value of art, not just material
value, but its worth within social
spaces”.
Taub has often been compared to
one of South Africa’s radical per-
formance artists, Steven Cohen,
because of how he uses his body in
showcasing his culture and sexu-
ality. A
Taub, who has established a sig-
nature rough approach to his
work, has managed to establish
himself in both the theatre world
and the art world which should
make for a very challenging play.
■DieBoek will be performed at the
Drama Quad on the 23rd, 24th
and the 26th as part of the
Krêkvars Students Arts Festival.
Christabel Andile Chisvo
T he Ugandan Anti-
Homosexual Bill forms
the backdrop to a “radical
protest theatre production” at this
year’s Krêkvars Student Arts Fes-
tival. This drama, Last Breath, stars creator Mduduzi Nhlapo and
Alphieus Ralapelle.
It tells the story of a man who
is persecuted for his sexual orien-
tation. Nhlapo is a former UP
Drama student who created an-
other protest theatre production
last year, titled Who Stole the E-Toll.
According to Bailey Snyman,
technical director of the Krêkvars
festival, protest theatre became
popular between the 1970s and
early 1990s in South Africa. It was
used to protest against political
oppression and racial segregation.
Although protest theatre did
not originate in South Africa, the
genre is especially successful here,
according to Snyman. Local plays
such as Sophiatown and Woza Al-bert both received international
recognition.
Snyman said protest theatre
has taken a backseat since the end
of apartheid. However, it has be-
gun to resurface because of politi-
cal, economic and social dissatis-
faction.
Protest theatre is not just fo-
cused on political and racial is-
sues. “Over the past few years
protest theatre productions have
begun surfacing as morality plays
which is a new form of protest,”
said Snyman.
He lists Lara Foot Newton’s
Tshepang as one of the best exam-
ples. This play dealt with child
rape. “Protest theatre is no longer
just about blackness or white-
ness,” said Snyman.
■Last Breath will be performed at
the Chapel tomorrow, Friday and
Saturday.
Mduduzi Nhlapo is a physical
theatre artist who is bringing a
protest theatre piece to
krêkvars.
Photo: PROVIDED
Taub adapts century old
play as ‘text within text’
Protest theatre fights foreign bias
21 July 2014 P 6
A few months after Stephanie Gericke won a professional prize at the Woordfees festi-
val in Stellenbosch, she is back on stage in two productions at the Krêkvars Student Arts Festival. One of these, Een duisend babas, she created herself.
Gericke won the 2014 “Woordtrofee vir die Uitskieter” for her role as Melusine van Arkadia. This play was recognized as the best production at last year’s Krêkvars festival. Melusine van Arkadia will be performed at the Aardklop Arts Festival this October.
Gericke, who is a graduate from the University of Pretoria’s Drama Department, has received a number of other accolades for her stage work over the past few years.
“I feel very honoured and blessed to have received this award,” says Gericke about her Woordfees prize.
She says the award inspires her to get more involved in the industry.
She calls her own play at this year’s festival a “drama and experi-mental” piece.
“There is no strict format of a beginning, middle and end. Move-ment becomes a symbol for the themes in the play.”
Gericke was inspired by the Rus-sian Kewpie doll when she wrote Een duisend babas.
“I saw it as a metaphor of the perfect baby and the symbol of the perfect child.”
She says she always writes with the final look of the stage produc-tion in mind. Gericke will also star in her aunt Corné Joubert’s experi-mental play Die Benoeming.
Gericke will play the role of Ad-am in an Afrikaans recreation of the biblical story of Adam and Eve.
She does not believe the fame has gone to her head. But the award has brought more opportunities of meeting well-known people within
theatre, she says. These connections could lead to potential work in the future.
∎ Gericke will be on stage in Een Duisend Babas at the Lier from 23 July until 25 July.
∎ She will also perform in Die Benoeming at the Masker from tomorrow until 24 July.
Award inspires Gericke
to new heights
Krêkvars is ‘safe environment’ for students
THE winner of the best director at this year’s Student Festival of the National Arts Festival (NAF) in Grahamstown, says his prize shows that he is “doing something right”.
Gopala Davies, who won the award for his work on Barbe Bleue: a story about madness, says he is honoured to have received this award.
The production was the official entry of the University of Pretoria’s Drama Department for the NAF Student Festival. Seventeen institu-tions took part in this festival.
Barbe Bleue makes use of new media technology and an adapta-tion of the age-old tale of Bluebeard to portray the effect madness has on a relationship.
Davies is busy using Barbe Bleue as a case study to explore the use of technology in live perfor-mances for his master’s degree at UP.
He has been involved with Krêkvars since 2008 and has fond memories of the festival.
“Krêkvars provides a unique experience for drama students at UP to perform in a safe environ-ment,” he said.
“Every year the festival grows from strength to strength. The festi-val is used as a practical for stu-dents to experience stage art in its various forms from hospitality to costume design, directing and per-formance with each year of study specialising in an aspect.” ∎ Barbe Bleue: a story about mad-
ness will be showing in the Lier today, 24 and 26 July.
Stephanie Gericke
Photo: PROVIDED
Gopala Davies
Photo: PROVIDED
Dan Lombard Dan Lombard Dan Lombard Dan Lombard
ZZZZeenat Pateleenat Pateleenat Pateleenat Patel
Noxolo Dlamini during a technical rehearsal for Anna K.
Photo: PIETER VAN DER MERWE
Fast facts:
∎ Dlamini started performing in pre-
school.
∎ She went to the Na�onal School of
Arts then later moved to a Catholic
School.
∎ Her mother ini�ally wanted her to
study science however she insisted
that her passion was drama.
S inger, dancer and actress Noxolo “Noxi” Dlamini (20) is a 3rd-year drama student
with a real commitment to her pas-sion. In this year's Krêkvars Stu-dent Arts Festival, she performs in three productions; Sugarcane Fields, Benjamin Walt and Anna K.
Noxi plays the lead role in Anna K . She is a woman married to a famous politician who has fallen in love with another man. The show is set in Russia and explores themes of fidelity, jealousy, passion and marriage.
Rehearsals for these shows start-ed nearly two months ago and the cast has been working tirelessly to get the show ready. Noxi says: “I was glad to be part of these three productions because I love what I do and I have a passion for the arts.
Therefore I was able to make time for each show and to balance my schedule.”
Drama and the arts kept her out of trouble and, growing up, it was the only thing she had a real inter-est in. She says her drive and ex-citement about performing on stage in front of an audience kept her go-ing.
“I love giving it my all and get-ting that feeling of being so tired from performing and just wanting my bed.”
She draws inspiration from her mother who is a business woman. Noxi describes her as a very hard-working woman who also loves what she does. “My mother never stops working, even when she's in bed, she's thinking of ideas and ways to better herself and that in-spires me.” Noxi wants to continue training in contemporary dancing and improve her singing through
vocal training. She intends to audition for a role
in The Lion King as well as other roles that may give her more expo-sure in the arts.
∎ Anna K will be on stage at the
Masker today, Wednesday and Friday.
∎ Dlamini will also perform in Sugarcane Fields and Benjamin Walt.
Singer, actress, dancer in three plays
21 July 2014 P 7
Thelma NgomaThelma NgomaThelma NgomaThelma Ngoma
21 July 2014 P 8
21 July MASKER LIER CHAPEL QUAD
09:00 Benjamin Walt
10:00 By Proxy
11:00 Meisie
12:00 Behind Closed
Doors
Mama
13:00 Verafrikaans(sing)
14:00 Mee$ng Iris Die Kamer Bo
15:00 Golan Heights SHORT CUTS
16:00 Versteekte
Gronde
Sommige
Goed...Kas Bly
17:00 Barbe Bleue
18:00 Life of an Ar$st Small Talk
19:00 Mavis FILMS (Studio)
20:00 Anna K The Stonehouse
Project
21:00 Kadawer
22:00 Chairs Koek—Koek
22:30 Ira
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