25 Jul 2009 The top six productions to come out of this year’s Ikhwezi Theatre Festival held at the Baxter Theatre Centre in March have been selected for presentation at the 11th Khanya College Annual Winter School in Johannesburg from July 31 to August 7.

This collaboration marks the first such invitation and opportunity in the Ikhwezi Theatre Festival’s resounding 11-year history, which is now on the brink of struggling to survive as one of South Africa’s theatre development platforms.

Despite this phenomenal success the future of the festival is now under threat owing to lack of funding. Next year’s event has had to be downscaled to only six productions because the present budget does not allow for more.

“This is indeed sad news for us and a terrible blow not only for our communities and theatre in general, but also for development in this country,” says Ikhwezi Festival Director Itumeleng Wa-Lehulere (picture right). “The incredible impact of the festival over the years on the broader theatre environment in this country is patently clear and bears testament to all that Ikhwezi stands for - developing, nurturing and mentoring the abundance of talent in our communities.”

Widely regarded as one of South Africa’s premier platforms for new and indigenous work, the Ikhwezi Theatre Festival has showcased 170 new works with more than 650 actors, writers and directors who have attended workshops and participated in the festival, conducted under the guidance of highly acclaimed local playwrights, directors and other industry experts.

At the workshops, which form the foundation of the overall vision of the festival, participants are taken through their paces as they learn the finer tasks and duties of a director as well as pre-production planning, casting, rehearsals, opening nights, fundraising, publicity, marketing and finance. Creative writing in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa is also included in the workshops.

The overall aims of the festival include developing critical thinking among audiences and theatre practitioners through the arts; popularising social programmes such as health, environment, education and human rights; using the arts to stimulate community initiatives; developing new playwrights in the Western Cape; and exposing new and upcoming actors, writers and directors to mainstream theatre.

The festival, a Baxter Theatre Centre initiative, was awarded the highest honour at the 2004 Arts and Culture Trust national awards when it came out tops in its category. At last year’s festival a record number of 19 plays were staged for its tenth anniversary. The Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Pallo Jordan, attended one of the performances and said, “The launch of the Ikhwezi Theatre initiative in 1998 has been a unique burst of hope. There is no doubt that the project has won a place in the hearts and minds of aspirant artists and cultural activists in the Western Cape. Ikhwezi is, literally, a guiding North Star, that has inspired hope and confidence in the hearts of our people. It is a testament of how the arts can, truly, transform lives.”

In 2007 the Best of the Fest was introduced to encourage productions with outstanding potential by taking them to the next level and guiding them through their transition into mainstream theatre. Beneath Silent Waters and Udaba Bafazi And the exclusive women’s club became the first winners. Last year Itsoseng, Tokoloshe and Red Winter in Gugs were selected. Red Winter in Gugs went on to be performed at the Baxter’s Play>Ground before being staged as a full-scale production. Itsoseng, written and performed by Omphile Molusi, went on to receive the Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, followed by a run at London’s Soho Theatre in September last year. Omphile was also the first Brett Goldin Bursary recipient in 2007.

Already several of the young talents who have come out of the festival have impacted on the broader local theatre scene, garnering awards and accolades along the way, and many have moved from amateur to professional actor status. Such performers include Fleur du Cap 2007 Best Actress (Karoo Moose) winner Chuma Sopotela and Best Supporting Actor (Karoo Moose) nominee and 2008 Brett Goldin Bursary recipient, Thami Mbongo. The two also won the 2007 Aardklop Best Actor award (ensemble) for Karoo Moose along with Zoleka Helesi (from Udaba Bafazi And the exclusive women’s club), Mdu Kweyama, Bongile Mantsai and Mfundo Tshazibane.

Sopotela, Mbongo and Molusi were part of the Baxter Theatre Centre and Royal Shakespeare Company collaboration of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which ran to great acclaim in Stratford-upon-Avon before travelling to five other cities in the UK. Other young talents who have come through the festival include Andrea Dondolo, Andile Nebulane, Pumeza Rashe (Red Winter in Gugs) and Connie George. All these actors have already made names for themselves in the media, on stage and television and in feature films.

Wa-Lehulere esplains, “The fruits of our work are evident through the success of the young theatre-makers who have already made a name for themselves and the different productions which cut their theatrical teeth here. Thanks to invitations such as this one from Khanya College, we can hope to survive. We cannot deny South Africa the platform which Ikhwezi offers, but unless funding is forthcoming, we have no other choice. We are looking forward to being part of the Winter School.”

The Khanya Theatre Festival forms part of the Khanya College Winter School programme and will officially launch the college’s Zabalaza Theatre, situated at The House of Movements in Johannesburg’s central business district.

With four provinces represented, the selection comprises 2009 Best of the Festival winner, Dens Wit Me, The Last Ride and Reclaiming the P… Word - all from the Western Cape - along with Time Out and It’s Not Me from the Eastern Cape and Boom Gate from KwaZulu-Natal. An additional production from Gauteng, not part of Ikhwezi, Sepoko Summit, completes the theatre programme.

In the line-up social, economic and political issues are examined and told in several different ways to ensure a dynamic programme which is jam-packed with exciting and entertaining South African stories.

This principle of tackling issues which concern communities is endorsed by Khanya College’s Annual Winter School theme for this year, Crisis and Resistance. The Winter School will bring together over 400 social justice activists and development practitioners and more than 1000 members of the public from all over Southern Africa participating in different events over the eight days.

Khanya College was established in 1986 and it is an independent non-governmental organisation whose primary aim is to assist various constituencies within working-class and poorer communities to respond to the challenges posed by the forces of economic and political globalisation. This is done by providing assistance through educational and training workshops, publications and research to organisations and individuals in these communities. 

The Khanya Theatre Festival runs from 31 July to 7 August at the new Zabalaza Theatre at the House of Movements in Johannesburg’s CBD with two shows daily at 18:00 and 20:15. Ticket prices are R25 at the door. For discounted block, corporate or school bookings, charities or fundraisers, contact Thobile on 011 336 9190 during office hours.

For more information about the Khanya College Annual Winter School and Festival visit www.khanyacollege.org.za/theatrefestival or contact Thobile Disemelo on tel 011 336 9190, cell 084 377 3013, or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Synopses of the plays

It’s not me

Group: Three Brighton Player

Writers: Xolani Ngesi, Mongezi Ncwadi and Zwai Mgijima

Director: Zwai Mgijima

Cast: Xolani Ngesi as Kwezi; Mongezi Ncwadi as Themba

Province: Eastern Cape (Port Elizabeth) 

Can things that happened during apartheid stand in the way of romantic relationships? This thought-provoking play filled with frightening sequences, dramatic turns and unexpected twists is about Khwezi, who will not allow his sister to marry the man of her dreams because he is the son of a brutal policeman from the apartheid era.


Time Out       

Group: Swii Arts Amendment

Writer and director: Monde Ngonyama

Cast: Nobesuthu Rayi, Sifezelwe Mbeka

Province: Eastern Cape (Uitenhage)

Two girlfriends, Sipsy (Sifezelwe Mbeka) and Babs (Nobesuthu Rayi), are domestic workers who usually spend their lunch times doing the usual girl talk. This summer day is different. They have read in a newspaper an advert by the government inviting women to apply for business opportunities. Excited, the two young women begin to map out their dreams. In the middle of their conversation Sipsy receives a call from the Ward Councillor, who confirms that her application for an RDP house has been approved. She is over the moon. Strangely Babs, who applied at the same time as Sipsy, does not get the same call. Surprisingly, instead Babs is asked to report to the Councillor’s office. This call should not have come…

 
The Last Ride

Group: TTM Productions

Written by: Thando Baliso

Director: Lindelwa Kali

Cast: Thando Baliso, Masizole Marafana, Sylvia Bulelwa Ntlantlu, Bandlakhazi Nombewu

Province: Western Cape (Kraaifontein, Paarl)

When a young boy wants to go for initiation, paternity becomes an issue and he has to find his biological father. His grandfather, who raised him after he was abandoned by his mother, sends him to Cape Town to look for his biological parents before he can perform the initiation (imbeleko) for him. Hell breaks loose when the boy learns that his mother was raped the same year he was born. What makes matters worse is that his mother married the man who raped her. Could this be the father he is looking for?


Dens Wit Me

Group: The Very Useful Theatre Factory

Written by: Levi Saville and Vicki Bawcombe

Director: Euodia Sampson

Cast: Shimmy Isaacs, Tarryn J Hendricks, Bronwyn Reddy, Carmen Maarman,

Hein de Vries

Province: Western Cape

Andrea is a bright, talented twenty-something who works for a firm of contract cleaners and toils every night in the same office block, cleaning up after the “laarnies”. Then she gets the chance of a lifetime – to put her dancing talent to the test by auditioning as a back-up dancer for a big local Hip-Hop star. After a lot of self-doubt and bulldozing by her co-workers, she takes the plunge. Her friends, ditsy Wendy and forthright, practical Julia, help Andrea to come out of her shell, take the risk and realise her dream. Trouble lurks around every corner in the form of the venomous supervisor, Mrs van Schalkwyk (fondly known as Skalkie), who has it in for Andrea and takes great pleasure in meting out punishment for every perceived misdemeanor. More fun comes in the form of their ally, the clumsy, loveable handyman Gakie - who has a soft spot for the sassy airhead Wendy.

Boom Gate

Group: PST Project

Writers: Workshopped by the cast

Director: Bekani Shabalala

Cast: Bhekithemba Khabela, Sifiso Makhanya, Siduduzo Khawula

Province: Kwazulu Natal (Durban)

With evocative sounds, song and movement of rural South Africa this physical theatre production sees a group of villagers, whose pastoral existence is threatened by development and corruption, forced to take drastic action to save their village.

 
Reclaiming the P… word

Group: Abafazi Bafazi

Writer and Producer: Mary Hames

Director: Asanda Phewa

Cast: Yolanda Gomba, Yolanda Gonono, Yolanda Meslane, Tamlin Jeposa, Roche Kester, Tandeka Moletana, Kholofela Mashego, Akhono Mbombo, Hope Nebulu, Unathi Ntoyanto, Thandolwethu Ntshebe

Province: Western Cape (UWC, Bellville)

This play is written and performed in a period of peace and in a country known for its progressive laws pertaining to women. However, this is also a period where there is an escalation of violence against women and girl children. The Gender Equity Unit decided to use theatre drama to educate students, staff and members of the broader society about embodiment, sex, sexuality and the sexual rights of women. The play Reclaiming the P…Word is essentially about women’s sexuality and embodies the experiences of women of all ages. Audiences will connect deeply with the content and message about the extent of violence against women and girl children in this country.


Sepoko Summit

Director, producer and writer: Ghamakhulu Diniso

Cast: The Dinso Family

Province: Gauteng

Part 1 is set against the Sepoko Summit takes place when the ghosts of apartheid and the phantom of democracy collide.

Part 2 is about an imaginary circus where Pope Tutu on a tightrope collides with King Tata on a magic carpet - like the twin towers, the church and the state collapsed.

Part 3 sees Moshe in the folktale Old testament smoking dagga, Jeso in the fairytale new Testament drinking wine, and Obama in the fabletale Now testament sniffing drugs – Hollywood and Bollywood turn into Hellywood.