By GILLIAN McAINSH
Today the curtain goes up on one of three of playwright Lara Foot’s plays. The director and CEO of the Baxter Theatre Centre is the Featured Artist at this year’s National Arts Festival (NAF), which had its official opening in Grahamstown last night and is premiering The Inconvenience of Wings and re-staging previous award-winners Karoo Moose and Tshepang, all on the Main programme.
The multi-award winning playwright, director and author, with a master’s degree from the University of Cape Town and 40 professional productions to her name, still gets excited by new work and the platform given at the NAF.
Performed in English, with Xhosa, the story takes place in a remote and impoverished village in the Karoo, where the inhabitants are struggling to survive.
The disintegration of the family unit and the violation of innocence endured by so many South African children is the focus of the play, which cleverly and creatively combines African story-telling and magical realism.
Karoo Moose won 15 awards and, as Foot has said of it, “the themes of the story for me were bound up in the idea that the children in the village needed some kind of magical event to free them from abuse, neglect and poverty”.
“Something magical was needed to break the cycle of violence.” The show is on until Saturday.
Next week, Foot will restage Tshepang, a poetic version of the brutal story of Baby Tshepang. It features Mncedisi Shabangu and Nonceba Constance Didi and is based on the true story that rocked the nation and shocked the world. Shabangu reprises his role as narrator and sculptor, Simon, with Didi as Ruth, in this haunting and uplifting masterpiece of redemption.
The play garnered several awards and accolades and has been translated into Zulu, Afrikaans and Croatian.
Its two-day run at Graeme College starts on Wednesday July 6.
For more NAF details visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
NAF Featured Artist gives stage to hope
Today the curtain goes up on one of three of playwright Lara Foot’s plays. The director and CEO of the Baxter Theatre Centre is the Featured Artist at this year’s National Arts Festival (NAF), which had its official opening in Grahamstown last night and is premiering The Inconvenience of Wings and re-staging previous award-winners Karoo Moose and Tshepang, all on the Main programme.
The multi-award winning playwright, director and author, with a master’s degree from the University of Cape Town and 40 professional productions to her name, still gets excited by new work and the platform given at the NAF.
Performed in English, with Xhosa, the story takes place in a remote and impoverished village in the Karoo, where the inhabitants are struggling to survive.
The disintegration of the family unit and the violation of innocence endured by so many South African children is the focus of the play, which cleverly and creatively combines African story-telling and magical realism.
Karoo Moose won 15 awards and, as Foot has said of it, “the themes of the story for me were bound up in the idea that the children in the village needed some kind of magical event to free them from abuse, neglect and poverty”.
“Something magical was needed to break the cycle of violence.” The show is on until Saturday.
Next week, Foot will restage Tshepang, a poetic version of the brutal story of Baby Tshepang. It features Mncedisi Shabangu and Nonceba Constance Didi and is based on the true story that rocked the nation and shocked the world. Shabangu reprises his role as narrator and sculptor, Simon, with Didi as Ruth, in this haunting and uplifting masterpiece of redemption.
The play garnered several awards and accolades and has been translated into Zulu, Afrikaans and Croatian.
Its two-day run at Graeme College starts on Wednesday July 6.
For more NAF details visit www.nationalartsfestival.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos