Whether you are a first-timer or a regular, here’s our guide to taking in the best of South African performance and art in 11 days at the 44th National Arts Festival.
The National Arts Festival has dedicated itself to evolving over time, so it’s no surprise that there will be new treats, and a dash of the familiar favourites, at this year’s event.
View the programmer here or download the full 255-page programme at nationalartsfestival.co.za
Festival favourite, the Cape Academy of Performing Art’s Ellipsis. Photo supplied.
1. Book the big shows ahead of time
If you want to watch a production, chances are many other people do too. Spare yourself the disappointment of missing your favourite event by booking your tickets as soon as possible. It’s best to book online now.
We recommend that after browsing the programme, you book a maximum of two shows each day. Find suggestions of good shows throughout the Festival by keeping your ear to the ground and looking out for Standing Ovation Awards. When you buy tickets online, make sure to print them before going to the festival, or head to the box office upon arrival to collect them.
2. Fringe or Main?
A scene from Gone Native. Photograph supplied.
With shows costing from as little as R20 to around R100 per ticket, it’s quite possible for festivalgoers to see a variety of shows. In fact, with more than 700 performances crammed into 11 days, the National Arts Festival can be overwhelming to both frequent and first-time visitors.
The first things to note when browsing through the bible-sized programme is that there are two main sections: the main programme and the fringe programme. The main programme features award-winning, renowned and established artists and productions. The fringe programme hosts upcoming talent with a lot of first-timers. Artists often progress from the fringe to the main programme through recognition, such as the Standing Ovation Awards.
The idea of a fringe festival started 70 years ago in Edinburgh, when a collective of independent artists felt excluded from the main Edinburgh Festival and decided to go their own way. So the National Arts Festival established the fringe festival to give a platform to upcoming artists.
The fringe programme schedule is colour coded. Red highlights times and dates when the production is free. The early days of a show are often free, which is a bonus for people planning on arriving for the earlier part of the festival. The green and the blue indicate various discounts, for example a two for the price of one ticket sale.
One of the pieces considered a highlight in this year’s fringe programme is Tswalo which recently won the Cape Town Fringe Fresh Award and is a piece directed by Mahlatsi Mokgonyana and performed by Billy Langa.
The Island, a play written by Athol Fugard, John Kani and Winston Ntshona about two prisoners on Robben Island directed by Chris Weare will also form part of the Fringe programme.
Skinned, a play directed by Siphesihle Ndaba and debuted at Rhodes Drama Department’s Rising Artists Programme in 2017 has been highlighted as worth looking out for and looks at how black women experience joy in a country that’s marginalised their experience as legitimate. Without fail, festinos can also expect to indulge in some satirical social commentary.
Award-winning playwright Juliet Jenkins will bring Woolworths to this year’s fringe. Described as a dark, mesmerising and hilarious satire on middle-class South Africa, it charges through trellidors, security estates, rhino charities, gold mines, shopping malls, rugby stadiums, game farms and bank queues.
3. Let the Standing Ovation Awards guide you
Standing Ovation Awards are awarded to first-time productions on each day across categories. The National Arts Festival convenes an Ovation Award panel to select work that stood out and where the audience responded with a standing ovation.
Overall winners are announced at the end of the festival. The shortlisted winners are announced daily on cuemedia.co.za throughout the festival.
Look out for these awards and buy your tickets as soon as possible because the awards will drive a lot more people to these productions.
Some of the previous productions who won Standing Ovation Awards include The Devil and Billy Markham by Contagious, Guy Buttery, a musical production and 180 Punchlines by Alan Committie who will be presenting Again! at this year’s festival.
Also read: 2017 Standard Bank Ovation Award Winners
4. Don’t overcommit
A scene from Walk with Koleka Putuma and Siphumeze Khundayi. Photography by Catherine Trollope.
With over 700 shows taking place, it’s easy to think of yourself as Bradley Cooper in Limitless and imagine that you can watch five shows in one day. Unfortunately, it’s not that kind of party, and coffee can only do so much to keep you going. Don’t festival yourself out.
Allow time for drinks, meeting people and exchanging ideas, shopping, and indulging in all the various food on offer at the markets.
The Festival’s popular market and meeting place – Village Green – is moving to Victoria Girls’ School in Beaufort Street, bringing the attraction closer to the centre of town and residential areas. The market will be completely redesigned, with zones and spaces for families and kids, an improved food court and beer tent offering and more accessible box office area.
The Albany Club will play host to Pitch and Play, where musicians are invited to promote or jam on the open mic sessions while the audience enjoys a relaxed atmosphere and pub food. Families can also catch a free storytime reading at the National English Literature Museum (NELM) at 11:30am daily from 29 June – 6 July. Children’s books will be read by artists from the National Arts Festival, so make sure to take your little ones.
5. Try something new
The Doghouse installation which is coming to the National Arts Festival through the new Creativate. Photograph by Asmund Sollihgda.
Step out of your comfort zone a little and try watching something out of the ordinary. If you’re a regular at the festival and think that you’ve done it all, this year’s new aspects will change your mind.
Beyond the theatre, festinos can expect to roll up their sleeves and get creative with a new series of art classes that form part of the Visual Art programme for the first time this year.
Curated by Carmen Ford and the National Arts Festival, the series of classes are taught by artists who are masters of their craft and include experiences like Afro-Futurist collage making with Graeme Germond, soapstone carving with Beloved Makina and Elisha Rangwari and learning woodcut carving and printmaking techniques with Ian Tainton. The workshops take place in the Carinus Annex studio rooms in Donkin Street, Grahamstown and ticket prices range from R100 to R250 and include materials. Many of the workshops are also suitable for children or teens.
The latest addition to the Festival is Creativate, which is a new digital playground for adventurous artists and curious audiences. It has replaced the previous think tank ThinkFest! to focus more on and explore the convergence between the arts and the growing revolution of the internet of things.
Creativate is aimed at revealing spaces where technology and the arts converge. It presents a world of opportunity for bold creators, our planet’s new explorers, limited only by the power of their imagination. The jam-packed programme features film, theatre, talks, workshops and seminar, exhibitions such as Gaming and Theatre Meet by Kieran Reid, Afrofuturist Animation Workshop, Algorithms in/and/out of Performance by Sanjin Muftic and more.
Also read: The Creativate full programme.
6. Indulge in some laughter
There is a vast array of comedy sessions available at the festival – from the Cape Town Comedy Club to various individual comedians who are working their way up the comedic scene in South Africa. There’s a comedy show to enjoy every night, so if you’re ever uncertain or have a gap – there’s nothing like a good chuckle.
Enjoy The Last Laugh, a wrap up of each festival day with some of the hottest comics with a different line-up each night at the Drill Hall from 22:30pm each night. You can catch Trevor Noah’s special correspondent in South Africa, Loyiso Madinga, who will be doing a solo show – Loyido Madinga Live, Tats Nkonzo brings back Standard Bank Ovation winner (2017) Privileged and Aaron McIlroy is in a new show called ADHD.
The comedy shows at the festival are value-for-money and offer a good sense of the South African comic scene with newcomers putting their best foot forward.
Browse: The comedy category at the National Arts Festival
7. Take the little ones to Children’s Theatre
The Main programme has a section called Family Theatre which involves all the shows that would be suitable for the whole family. The fringe programme is also jam-packed with theatre for a young audience featuring plays such as The Cloud Catcher, the story of a girl who thinks differently written and directed by Richard Antrobus, while Tales My Cat Told Me is said to keep even the very young spellbound.
Well Worn Theatre’s Galela also tells the story of three young children who try and solve the town’s drinking water problems only to discover something more murky under the surface. Directed by Thembela Madliki the play is a study of the bravery and imagination of children. As mentioned earlier, families can also catch a free storytime reading by artists at NELM at 11:30am daily from 29 June – 6 July.
8. Look out for handmade crafts by locals
The National Arts Festival hosts over 1000 stalls across Grahamstown selling a variety of goods. Items on sale range from crafts, clothes, food, bags, shoes and much more. Most of the items on sale are locally produced and sold by local businesses. So doing your fair share of shopping at the festival means supporting local businesses and local entrepreneurs – it’s worth spending a buck.
Most of the stalls are located at Village Green, which is moving to Victoria Girls, to offer festinos a more central shopping and hanging out experience. There’ll be a stage called Amazing Stages, featuring plenty of local talent performing throughout the day. The festival organisers say there will be loads of new stalls, featuring the finest homemade craft, as well as your familiar favourites.
Village Green is a good spot to hang out and enjoy some coffee in between shows at the food court. You can also bring kids to the children’s tent for puppet shows, face painting, play dough sculpting and workshops as well as daily competitions with some prizes to be won. The beer garden will be extended along with the trading hours to offer the choice of relaxing indoors or outdoors, with food and beer on tap.
9. Follow Cue for daily festival news
Each year the festival puts together a team of journalists to report on the daily events and activities at the festival. The stories, insights and reviews are published on Cue daily, an online publication throughout the festival providing news, insights, interviews with artists at the festival and other updates such as the Standing Ovation Award Winners. Considering the size of the festival, it’s hard to keep track of anything outside your own interests, but Cue offers a great way of keeping in touch with festival beyond your immediate activities and schedule. Follow Cue at cuemedia.co.za.
10. Explore the Fingo Festival in Grahamstown township
The Fingo Festival is a community-led arts festival held at Fingo Village Square in Fingo Village, a township 3 kilometres outside of Grahamstown. Established in 2011, the festival uses art to promote social cohesion, dialogue and social transformation within the Fingo Village township and the larger Grahamstown community. The festival’s programme includes children’s programmes, visual art, drama, music, workshops and youth dialogues. This year, the annual women’s dialogue will be in tribute to Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Albertina Sisulu and the representation of black women in South African history.
11. Explore a revival of Jazz
The Standard Bank Jazz Festival, which brings some of the best jazz artists to the festival, will be turning its attention to the rebirth of jazz, as a new generation of musicians tackles the South African musical legacy this year. One of the artists who are at the heart of this generational interaction of South African jazz is Thandi Ntuli who won the Standard Bank Artist of the Year 2018 for Jazz and is also part of a band called the rebirth of cool. She will feature in three performances at the Festival which are worth looking out for.
On Friday, 29 June, she will offer an exploration of her music to date from her albums The Offering, and the recently released, Exiled. On Saturday 30 June she will perform as part of the Rebirth of Cool with DJKenzhero on the decks and a powerful young band to create a reinterpretation of Miles Davis’ seminal 1957 album, Birth of the Cool. This, mixed with the sounds and styles of current South Africa, results in a merging of three generations of music – 1960s jazz, 1990s hip-hop and contemporary South African jazz fusion.
On Sunday, Ntuli will be on the piano in Way of Dancing where two of Switzerland’s most interesting young vocalists, Lisette Spinnler and Julie Fahrer share their music with an excellent South African rhythm section, blending the sound of jazz from two continents.
Also read: A Swingin’ jazz guide to Joburg
12. Hydrate, hydrate and hydrate!
Lastly, drink lots of water to stay hydrated and avoid unnecessary fatigue, cramps and headaches. Just remember that drinking water will help you stay energised, get better sleep and feel less fatigued during and after the festival.
