The National Arts Festival is getting its mojo back.
After the pandemic knocked the premier national and international arts event into near extinction, the 10-day-Makhanda event has seen a slow and steady revival of support from around the country.
From attending the opening weekend to returning for the final weekend, the shift was palpable.
After a slow first Thursday, the final weekend in Makhanda was full of vibrant energy.
The centrepiece 800-seater Guy Butler Theatre at the Monument was packed with crowds.
Issues of multiple potholes, load-shedding and occasional water cutoffs seemed not to have put off visitors.
It was difficult to find a bed in the accommodation-geared academic town.
From attending shows and walking through the Village Green at Victoria Girls’ High School, it was clear that many of the festinos were from the Eastern Cape and they seemed to be having a great time buying crafts and food from the stalls.
Hopefully next year the fresh orange and pineapple juice stand will be back.
CEO Monika Newton was candid with the media, saying the arts offering was significantly smaller than in the past, but the team had worked hard to be smarter with less.
There were still a surprising 250 shows on offer and among them were smash hits.
The festival does not issue final crowd tallies and show attendance measures until the event is over.
There was a strong showing for both shows of the Makhanda-born father-and-son artists Andrew and Daniel Buckland, who were in two different productions
Both received standing ovations and filled seats.
Son Daniel collaborated with fellow circus artisans for Castaways, a magical and mesmerising acrobatics and clowning experience in the Guy Butler Theatre.
Every seat was full as the lights went up on a large square platform which was soon in use by aerialist performers suspended midair from loops and hoops.
While the acrobatics were incredible, the clowning and physical theatre were just as amazing, with comedic gesture and deep vulnerability making the show something special to witness.
Andrew Buckland, a theatre staple and legend, played a slightly pathetic columnist trying to keep his mixed-race marriage together.
His role was to service the powerhouse wife character played by Mwenya Kabwe in Hold Still.
Directed by Jay Pather, and brilliantly written by acclaimed playwright Nadia Davids, the piece was a soaring and tender exploration of trauma, both from people who lived through the liberation struggle, to the more contemporary migration and refugee crises in the UK.
The underlying theme of intergenerational trauma now surfacing in SA was thoroughly explored and left the audience in tears and on their feet applauding.
A theme that permeated through multiple productions, as young theatre-makers grapple with what has been left behind and left unsaid.
The duo who won the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for theatre, Billy Langa and Mahlatsi Mokgonyana, brought man-of-the-moment theatre-maker J Bobs Tshabalala’s sparking script Khongolose Khommanding Khommissars to the Rhodes Box Theatre to a warm reception from a young, sharp audience.
An East London businessman, who asked not to be named, said the piece felt too close to home. “Why do I come here to see something I see every day?” he said.
Young East London swimmer Mark Roach said he’d had the time of his life, especially when he was targeted by Rob van Vuuren in Namaste Bae: Blessings and Kombucha, a fiery critique of cults that make claim to alternative healing, and made to place his finger in the belly button of Van Vuuren’s character.
The Long Table, a famous food and watering hole for artists, was packed on Saturday night.
Many were on a post-performance high. Under fairy lights, they filled the rows of candlelit tables, and let rip with laughter, filling the usually bland church hall with excitement and revelry.
Dispatch sat next to Pather and got the inside track on Hold Still and theatre in general.
He spoke of small decisions made in his set, such as book titles in the shelves facing against the wall to assist with a massive projection of water and a rail line which were central to the wrenching monologues.
He chatted about realism, a theatre style that portrays daily life and experiences as authentically as possible on stage.
Pather said it was a useful way of drawing audiences into stories and how powerful the recognition of lived experience could be when connecting audiences to actors.
The African craft market was back this year in Market Square and was busy and bustling.
The Fiddlers Green fun fair filled the night sky with neon lights, and the blue carousel could be seen from the top of the monument hill during sunset.
The festival endured bitter cold with rain, mist and biting winds, but still the show went on and by Sunday the sun was out, the air was warmer, and deals at the Village Green were hot, with many offering 50% off on gloves and scarves.
DispatchLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.