Photo Essay | So, how was Fest?
Makers and lovers of theatre reflect on the experience of this year’s National Arts Festival, which was pushed online by the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown restrictions.
National Arts Festival
The arts delivered in pixels and bytes
The past, present and future collided powerfully at this year’s National Arts Festival, which bore the signature of our times as subjugated voices took centre stage.
Long Read | Salem: Of the land itself
Near Makhanda is a cricket pitch with claims to being the oldest in the country. Watered by blood and trauma, rolled with frontier nostalgia and contemporary paranoia, how does it play?
SA arts festival pioneering the art of quarantine
As the National Arts Festival goes virtual during the Covid-19 crisis, its community of artists is entering a daunting new world.
Nomhle Nkonyeni, theatre matriarch and pioneer
Actor, director and activist Ma’Mpangela wanted to give back to her hometown of New Brighton and sow the seeds of theatre, so the legacy of South African stories could flourish.
Gabrielle Goliath creates songs for survivors in scratched melodies
The artist’s new exhibition, ‘This is a song for…’, interrupts song recordings in the manner of a stuck record to jar audience members into experiencing how rape continues to interject itself into the lives of eight women.
The fringe festival, a worn out model for Makhanda
The National Arts Festival Fringe has always showcased innovative and experimental work, but new artists in particular are struggling to earn or losing money on their productions.
Long Table laden with fate of National Arts Festival
Attempts to stave off economic decline and keep the festival globally competitive have meant constant change. This restaurant, however, is a welcome constant for artists and audiences.
Amy Jephta and the tender theatre of memory
The winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for theatre brings home the need to keep remembering a past that displaced and dispossessed.
Kitty Phetla: On pointe and in the realm of the ancestors
Standard Bank’s 2019 Young Artist winner for dance, Kitty Phetla, doesn’t believe in the glory of kudos. It’s all about mastering the craft, she says.