Tracey Saunders
ANYONE who is apprised of Ismail Mohammed’s appreciation of South African history will not be surprised at the theme of this year’s National Arts Festival, which commemorates the 60th Anniversary of the Women’s March to Parliament. Close to 80% of the work on the Main programme is either written, directed, curated or headlined by women.
This year’s featured artist is Lara Foot who may not have been in the march in 1956, but who is in the vanguard of tearing down the walls of segregation and discrimination within the theatre community.
As the chief executive and artistic director of the Baxter Theatre in she continues to bring work that is challenging to local stages and her instinct for selecting high calibre South African works is proved accurate time and time again.
Coincidentally Mies Julie, one such work directed by Yael Farber which premièred at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2012 before being staged at the NAF, opened on this week at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nords in Paris.
The production has received more than 40 international five-star reviews and several theatre awards during its international tour to 27 cities. Award winning is an adjective that is synonymous with Foot’s work and two of her earlier productions: Karoo Moose, starring the original cast, and Tshepang, a haunting piece dealing with the brutal phenomenon of the rape of young children in South Africa, will be staged.
Her eagerly anticipated new script The Inconvenience of Wings will première with a dream cast of Andrew Buckland, Mncedisi Shabangu and Jennifer Steyn.
The Solo Theatre Festival which enjoys the support of the Embassy of the Netherlands features eight productions about women and by women.
Jackie Rens will perform Ruth First: 117 Days, while Zethu Dlomo brings Penny to the stage. The award winning and ever popular Jemma Kahn will perform in In Bocca Al Lupo and Fiona Ramsay will present Blonde Posion.
Completing the stellar line up are international productions Amsterdam(Chanje Kunda), Immortal(Jenna Dunster) and Unveiled(Gushan Mia). Ester Natzijl will present Watching, which was staged at Amsterdam Fringe in 2015.
Janni Younge returns to the stage with her exquisite life sized puppets to explore national and personal identity in her re-imagining of Stravinsky’s much-loved ballet, The Firebird.
Racial, cultural, sexual and historical identity are also the subject of photographer Zanele Muholi’s gaze as she confronts the politics of race and pigment in the photographic archive in her exhibition Somnyama Ngonyama(Hail, the Dark Lioness).
Grahamstown becomes the cultural capital of the country in July each year and promises “11 days of Amazing”. This year will be an 11 day celebration and recognition of women. Perhaps there can be a collective respect for women during the other 354 days.