Date: 18 – 30 September 2014
Multicultural theatre, music, dance and poetry productions are set to engage audiences in a celebration of South Africa’s rich heritage at Artscape Theatre.
The Artscape Heritage Festival, which runs from 18 to 30 September, will reflect on South Africa’s history and struggle for freedom.
It will also reflect on the Rainbow Nation’s pros and cons while celebrating its rich cultural diversity.
Artscape’s creative manager Mandla Mbothwe believes Heritage Month is a “time to reflect what we have inherited, the gifts and burdens of yesterday”.
In this month, South Africans are encouraged to engage with the past, particularly on national Heritage Day on September 24.
Mbothwe says: “It is time for a nation’s introspection about all that makes South Africans unique. It is a time to evaluate today and the legacy we are making for future generations. It is time for us to remember, to redress, to build and celebrate our own special aesthetics of telling stories.”
He says the festival is a “platform where highly acclaimed, diverse and multicultural productions will be staged not only to mark Heritage Day but the month through the presentation of theatre, dance and musical productions”.
“These productions will mirror our 20 years of democracy, while celebrating the rich diverse culture of our society,” he says.
The festival’s headliner shows are ‘Unmute’, ‘They Died Singing’, ‘Biko’s Quest’ and ‘Rainbow Scars’.
These shows are programmed as a double bill at the Artscape Theatre.
A 30-minute interval between the two productions will feature live entertainment.
The ticket price per double bill is R100.00.
‘Unmute’ and ‘They Died Singing’ runs back-to-back from 24 to 27 September.
‘Unmute’, choreographed by Andile Vellem, is a dance piece based on this dancer’s experience as a dancer who is deaf. It is a way for Vellem to find his voice as a choreographer, using sign language as the source of the movement vocabulary. It features performers with different dance backgrounds to find and explore what they would like to unmute: feelings, perceptions, social norms, expectations and deconstructing what society perceives as dance. Through this dance piece Vellem communicates what he believes in, which is a true collaboration and integration and a platform for sharing skills, knowledge and stories.
‘They Died Singing’ is a musical production based on the life of Vuyisile Mini, who was a unionist, Umkhonto we Sizwe activist, singer, dancer and poet. It highlights his journey in the union movement, detentions he suffered at the hands of the South African apartheid regime to his last day when he was executed alongside Zinakile Mkhaba and Wilson Khayinga on 6 November 1964.
‘Rainbow Scars’ and ‘Biko’s Quest’ runs back-to-back from 29 to 30 September.
Both these productions will then leave for the Afrovibe Festival in Amsterdam in October.
‘Rainbow Scars’ is set in April 1994 when the Rainbow Nation is born.
Its synopsis reads: “Ellen Robinsona suburban mom, adopts Lindiwe Robinson a born-free orphan who loses her parents in the New South Africa. Something happens that not only challenges the mother-daughter relationship, but brings to the surface the scars of a country still struggling to heal itself of its divided past.” This play “employs the metaphor of an interracial family to explore issues of identity, exclusion and privilege in the post-apartheid rainbow nation”.
`Biko’s Quest’ explores the life and ideas of the young anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko who inspired many people and continues to do so. Biko’s ideas and writings on Black Consciousness empowered people with a new sense of self-worth, self-motivation and an attitude of activism.
The story is narrated and performed through song, dance, dialogue and multi-media, “using the past to meet the present to shape the future”. The production seeks to take audiences on a journey of memory, discovery and action not only remembering Biko as a liberation icon who died but rather celebrating the life he lived, the giant in him, and the contribution he made where no one else dared to, given the conditions of the times.
The Arena Theatre will also host community theatre performances, in partnership with community-based arts organisations, from 18 September.
These shows are ‘Tiervlei’ and ‘Lingua Franca’.
‘Tiervlei’ tells the story of a family forcefully removed from Tiervlei, now known as Ravensmead, in Cape Town. It looks at how each family member makes sense of the loss and violation and is based on a factual forced removal that happened in 1958 in the area was formerly known as Tiervlei which has subsequently been subdivided into Parrow Valley and Ravensmead in accordance with the Group Areas Act 41 of 1950. This story places this untold moment in history on the historic map and acknowledges its existence through oral history method and extensive research.
‘Lingua Franca’ is an exploration of inheritance through poetry featuring a leading spoken word movement and a musical base.
Tickets for the Artscape Heritage Festival can be booked via Computicket on 086-915-8000 or Dial-A-Seat on 021-421-7695.
For more information log on to www.artscape.co.za.