First published in 1945, the production tells the timeless classic novel’s story; with a uniquely South African slant to ensure it has relevance and topicality for contemporary audiences.
Animal Farm has recently been selected as a nominee for the Naledi Awards Showcase organized by Assitej at the Soweto Theatre in October 2014.
Growing up in rural area a young man known by his nick name “The Shoe Man” take us through a journey that may change the lives of South African youth today. He is forced to attend high school in a closest town, since he is waiting for the government to build one in his area. Passionate about completing his matric, he struggles to survive through depressions posed by children from his community and settling his fees at his multiracial school. (The play is dedicated to the late Andile “King, Jesus” Mdletshe)
Jittery Citizens perform a “Whose Line is It Anyway?” styles show. We play short form improv games based on suggestions from the students and teachers. Totally unrehearsed, totally unscripted, totally hilarious!
Ubom! is back with THE WANGAI! directed by Andrew Buckland and Noxolo Donyeli. This Lorax-inspired story is a dazzling, clever and action-packed theatre adventure for the whole family! It is an electrically charged, zany, multi-coloured, and flavoursome story of friendship, difference, adventure and magic! Taking inspiration from Nobel Peace prize winner, Wangari Maathai, who spoke for the trees, Ubom! creates a little hero, “The Wangai”, who goes on an ecological adventure with the earnest desire to protect his luscious Eastern Cape habitat from an eager young entrepreneur whose eyes are too focused on ‘Commercial Success’ without regard for the extraordinary natural balance of the environment.
Germinating and growing out of local Eastern Cape history, ecology, culture and contemporary world views the result is a vibrant, exciting theatre work which can be accessed and enjoyed by children and adults from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.
And so the wondrous manipulation of language, rhythm, character and fantastical locale which so characterizes Dr Seuss’s work is honoured in a version of the story that offers the possibility of a world inhabited by people and creatures who care for each other and for the planet on which we depend.
A story has many feet, but poet, musician and storyteller Gavin Bonner, a Londoner living in South Africa, gives it wings.
Take a memory of being told a tale – your mother reading you a bedtime story or an elder telling you ancient anecdotes around the fire, and refresh that with a new approach.
With the audience forming an arc three rows in front of him, Bonner appeared out of the pitch black Glennie Fest Centre Hall for his last Grahamstown festival show at 10 pm with a drumming ritual.
His first tale was inspired by a Congolese friend and former band member. The next one came from the room. Much as a slam poet or rapper is often tasked with creating verses out of of a word or situation, Bonner asked for random words from the audience and turned them into an improvised tale rich in rhyme.
The improvisation may go all over the place and take many forms, from being funny to poetic, but it always returns to its starting point and essence.
Here, Julius Malema can be a closet guitarist and Mugabe can be dethroned by the double sting of a bumble bee. The novelty is that you are not only a listener but a collaborator too.
When you hear your word settling in its character a warm spread of pride dances in your belly.
The other stories Bonner told are learnt. Some have moral lessons, some are big and others shorter than a minute.
Some are his experiences from his travels around the world. The drumming he uses as interludes has stories of its own. He plays interesting percussion such as the Moroccan drum (Bendir) and the Riq from Egypt which resembles a tambourine.
Now living in Cape Town, Bonner has been telling stories in this way for about nine months and he’s been a musician and poet for most of his life.
He combines, honours and subverts genres and has created a delightful style of his own that connects simply yet deeply.
He is planning a national tour and will be hitting Joburg stages soon with his new brand of art. For more information go to www.gavinbonner.com and check out his Facebook group, Storytelling South Africa, whch includes him and other storytellers.
A Girl Called Owl charts a friendship that starts in the heat of the Overberg summer between two ten-year-old girls, finding them again six years later. Olivia arrives in the town with her Dad; she is the new girl, the quiet girl, the weird girl. Then she meets Kay, the girl with the scar. Horwitz performs over ten characters, from the two young girls and their teenage counterparts to both their fathers and a group of boisterous men. Owl is a story about climbing trees, punching boys and kissing girls, touching sensitively, and not without humour, on issues including: coming of age – identity and choice; teen sexuality; homosexuality; domestic abuse; being/feeling different; friendship; love; violence – physical/implicit; changing relationships with authority figures/parents/teachers. The lead character is a girl so the play may be classed under ‘women’s issues’. However, the way in which she relates to the men in her environment, and they to her, makes this play important for men as well.
Written and directed by Jon Keevy, performed by Briony Horwitz, with staging by Fiona du Plooy and music composed for the show by Brydon Bolton, A Girl Called Owl premiered as Owl in 2012, receiving praise such as ‘Horwitz delivers an enchanting performance. Her versatility as an actress is astonishing…moving and evocative.” (Cape Times); “… beautifully observed…totally delicious …” (Megan’s Head) and four stars from the Cape Argus. Since then it has travelled all over SA and at the 2012 National Arts Festival it was invited to the Brighton and Prague Fringe festivals. At Brighton it gathered more praise, including two 5-star reviews and a nomination by Latest magazine as Best International Performance.
This is a tale that shows the cruelty of life, and how if you don’t respect life or don’t have a direction, you will not succeed. It tackles themes like abortion, unprotected sex with multiple partners, peer pressure, irresponsible teenage parenting, school drop outs and the importance of education in life.
TACTICS is a collection of daring short plays written by young South African writers who have worked with The Framework.
Five short plays are performed by performers, they will play different parts, and the plays will be performed in a different order to create a completely new whole. In keeping with the Framework’s ethos, no two performances will be the same.
All the plays are multiply cast, allowing the actors to play different roles each time. Both actors and audience formulate relationships and meaning afresh at each showing. To this end, the actors have been Framework-trained, but not rehearsed, so that they have to thrash out their virgin choices before the audience.
The Framework’s team brings this new, totally edgy, intersection between text and performance in a style that demands the following of the performers: Play yourself, play the best part of yourself, don’t ever apologise and play to win.
A performance targeted at Grade 7 primary school learners, ages 11-13. Issues addressed are peer pressure, sex education as well as the benefits and importance of mentorship by teachers and elders.