Hi everyone

With the media centre closing early on Saturday and me needing to drive back early Sunday, I didn’t get the chance to put up the last three reviews.

Now that the Fest is over, it doesn’t seem worth running reviews of the three individually, so here’s a quick run down of what happened.

The Cape Philharmonic Orchestra’s Gala Concert on Saturday afternoon was the most fun I’ve ever had at an orchestral concert.

 Rather than just sticking to classical music, conductor Richard Cock included everything from Olympic themes to James Bond music, Phil Collins, blues standards, jazz and English folk tunes.

The aspect which made it so much fun was the audience participation. In Coates’s By a Sleepy Lagoon, he conducted the audience, asking them to make “shooshing” noises to sound like the water breaking on the beach and even had one guy do seagull effects – which proved quite amusing.

But the best was to come in the finale – Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.

The concert had been promoted as having a real cannon for the overture, but this proved logistically impossible.

So the audience was provided with paper bags, which we had to blow up and then bang at the point when conducted to do so.

It worked amazingly well, with only one or two people getting their timing wrong, and the sound of hundreds of people banging paper bags sounded amazingly like a cannon going off.

Then, much as a couple of years ago at an outdoor concert when he got the ECPO audience to do the Macarena, Cock had the Guy Butler Theatre audience up and doing a variation of the YMCA, changed to the NAFG to stand for National Arts Festival Grahamstown – written, he tells us, by “The Village Green People”.

The concert ran much longer than I expected and I had less than five minutes to get to the basement of the monument (luckily I was already in the building) for the student theatre production Tech-no/Logic.

Presented by the UCT drama department, it was one of the funniest shows I saw the entire Fest.

For the most part it was stand-up comedy and skits by the show’s co-writer Anne Hirsch, who mused on the infiltration of technology and the mass media into our lives.

Everything from cellphones to CCTV, Facebook, MySpace and Nintendo Wii provided the basis for jokes, while a large portion of the show focused on television, particularly reality shows.

The production featured three large screens and in between Hirsch’s performances, pre-recorded segments featuring the rest of the cast were shown.

These ranged from rap music videos to reality show parodies – including one called “You’ve been Terrified”.

I laughed from start to finish. A great show and Hirsch is definitely someone to watch for the future.

I ended off the Fest at the Scout Hall, watching Live and Kicking’s final night – the Comedy Awards.

Stuart Taylor proved why he was awarded the best overall comedian award with a brilliant and original set, which included very funny insights into his marriage and birth of his child. (I saw he was blue and wondered if my wife had been having an affair with a Smurf!)

Rob van Vuuren won the “hot hatchling” award for best stand-up debut by a comedian more used to working within a scripted show, and his set also proved extremely funny.

The three shows were a great way to end a brilliant Festival, which had numerous sold-out performances and great quality throughout the Main and Fringe.

- Leon Muston

Up until last night, I have been working virtually 24-7 since I arrived in Grahamstown a week and a half ago.

But last night I finally let my hair down (the little bit of it I have left) and partied the night away with a fellow Eastern Cape journalist.

Having spent much of the Festival in and out of the Monument, I’d often past the Pride Rock Pub, halfway up the stairs en route to the media office.

But every time I walked past, they seemed to be playing cheesy music and it just didn’t seem like my kind of scene.

But it’s actually the most amazingly welcoming environment, the barmen and waitresses are always up for fun and it’s just one great party all night long.

Tonight’s the last night you’ll have the chance to party there. Warning, with shots of tequila or cape velvet for only R8 each, you’ll probably be knocking back a fair number of them.

Of course, I should have taken into consideration last night that today I was going to attend the Cape Philharmonic’s Gala Concert, using a real cannon for the 1812 Overture. My apologies in advance to classical music enthusiasts if you find me cowering under my seat, screaming “make it stop” at that point of the concert!

ORCHESTRAL CONCERT by the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Peter Valentovic with guest soloist Zanne Stapelberg.

Reviewed by Leon Muston, Arts Editor

THE Cape Philharmonic Orchestra showed its class last night at an outstanding, but surprisingly not sold-out concert at the Guy Butler Theatre.

The programme included a number of pieces which have become such a part of popular culture that even non-classical music enthusiasts would be familiar with them. These included Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers and Strauss’s Fledermaus Overture.

Verdi’s Tacea la Notte Placida and Massenet’s Meditation were also among the highlights.

When I realised my seat was right at the front of the auditorium, right next to the double basses, I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t get the full orchestral experience, but the great acoustics in the venue and the ability of the musicians ensured that I could hear every instrument.

Slovakian-born conductor Peter Valentovic was a consumate professional, but not as charismatic as some of the conductors we regularly see in the Eastern Cape like Peter Louis van Dijk or Richard Cock.

Soloist soprano Zanne Stapelberg, who last week had wowed the audience at the African Celebration concert, was completely in her element, demonstrating excellent vocal range and control as she sang works ranging from Mozart’s Porgi Amor to Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance #10 and Puccini’s Chi il Bel Sogno.

Every time she took to the stage she thrilled the audience and it was not surprising  they persuaded the orchestra and Stapelberg to return for an encore.

For those who missed it yesterday, the Cape Philharmonic and Stapelberg will also be playing today at 3.30pm, in the Festival Gala Concert, which will be conducted by Richard Cock and will feature guest soloist Shannon Mowday on saxophone.

THE QUIET VIOLENCE OF DREAMS, presented by Endymion Productions, based on the novel by K Sello Duiker, directed by Neville Engelbrecht (main, drama, world premiere, Graeme College (today – Friday at 7pm and tomorrow - Saturday at 2pm and 7pm). No under 16s, sex, violence, language and nudity.

Reviewed by Leon Muston, Arts Editor

It’s a very disturbing and extremely long production, but if you are looking for a thought-provoking drama which examines issues of politics, relationships and sexuality in modern society, The Quiet Violence of Dreams could be your sort of show.

Based on the K Sello Duiker novel, which won the Herman Charles Bosman prize for literature in 2001, the production follows the lives of two main characters  – Tshepo (Duke Motlanthe) and Mmabatho (Lebo Mashile).

Tshepo grew up in a household where his father was a gang boss, so violence was a constant threat. His mother was raped and murdered and he was also sodomised in a brutal attack when he was 17 years old.

He later discovered that his father may have been responsible for the incident, wanting to cash in Tshepo’s mother’s life assurance.

Tshepo gets a degree in journalism from Rhodes University, but has no ambition to pursue it as a career, and basically becomes a slacker, taking drugs, doing odd jobs and relying on others for accomodation and other necessities.

But the drugs affect his mental state, and he finds himself regularly admitted to mental hospitals.

Meanwhile Mmabatho, a woman he has a platonic relationship with, keeps coming to visit him in hospital, looks after him whenever he is released and basically acts like a big sister.

Then she enters a relationship with German exchange student Arne (Jacques Bessenger), which goes very well at first until he (a) cheats on her and then (b) gets her pregnant.

While she is dealing with these issues, Tshepo, after another horrible sexual assault incident, which really shocks the audience, enters into a career as a male prostitute working for a massage parlour.

Most of the interaction with his clients are quite funny, but again the physical nature of the homosexual interaction may shock many in the audience.

Ultimately both Tshepo and Mmabatho are on life journeys, trying to reach a point where they know what they want from life and no longer need to rely on others, or each other, for support.

Mothlanthe is outstanding in the lead, while Mashile is fairly strong in support.

Elton Landrew is also good in his three roles as hospital patient Zebron, roommate Chris and client Abdul, although Garth Collins doesn’t vary his acting enough in the five different roles he plays.

The production runs for almost three hours, although that does include a 15 minute interval.

It’s an excellent work, but definitely not for sensitive audiences.

OZYMANDIAS, presented by First Physical Theatre and the John Allen Project (dance, main, Alec Mullins Hall, tomorrow – Saturday at 2pm and 7pm):

Reviewed by Leon Muston, Arts Editor

IF there’s one thing that can definitely be said about this Grahamstown-New Orleans collaboration, it certainly is different.

It’s a multi-media production, with interviews with the cast members and other individuals projected on screens while two sets of dancers perform scenes linked to what is being discussed on screen.

Based on Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem, the production comments on issues related to empires, statues, death, memories and legacy.

One set of dancers are clad in brown, while the other set are just in their underwear, with their skins whitewashed.

Those in brown provide the main action, with the ones in white providing support.

 To start with they are dancing in and out of wooden crate-type objects which get stacked up to make buildings and statues.

Later with the brown-clad dancers moving freely, the white-washed dancers keep bringing strange jars filled with sand and childhood objects on to the stage, representing memories, and presumably, the sands of time.

Meanwhile tragedies such as September 11, Hurricane Katrina and the civil war in Zimbabwe are being discussed on the screens.

It’s thought-provoking, but it’s so unlike anything else I’ve ever seen, it’s really difficult to comment on the actual quality of the show.

But if you are on the look out for something a little left of centre, this is a definite possibility.

Reviewed by Leon Muston, Arts Editor

IT’S great when a creative work like this can not only get across the senseless of the murder of a great South African leader, but can also make it entertaining for the audience.

This drama, which played to a sold out audience on its opening night yesterday, looks at the last 10 years of Steve Biko’s life.

The opening and concluding scenes both show Biko’s (Masoja Msiza) murder at the hands of security police officer Sergeant Hattingh (David Dukas) on September 12, 1977.

But then we go back to 1968, to see Biko’s rise to importance as a student leader, at the point when he opted to break away from the multi-racial National Union of South African Students to form the all-black South African Students Organisation (SASO).

This scene not only shows Biko’s skill as an orator, but also his sense of humour. And when the other activists leave the room, his softer side as well, as he tries to seduce fellow student Mamphela Ramphele (Boitumelo Mothabela).

His attempts fail dismally, particularly when he tries to use his political rhetoric as pick-up lines, telling her that her legs should be an open democracy, to which she replies by crossing her legs and says she prefers centralised power.

Biko’s skill as a political leader is further demonstrated during a powerful and moving speech as he is elected president of SASO in 1968, and in the next scene when he enters into a debate with his lifelong friend Barney Pityana (Patrick Bokaba) in 1970.

But Biko isn’t only portrayed in a positive light. Writer and director Martin Koboekae has chosen to portray him as a rounded human being with faults as well as good qualities, focusing on his excessive drinking and cheating on his wife.

He also allows the production to move beyond the historical to comment on the present, when Biko and Pityana debate what a post-apartheid South Africa would be like. Their comments on personality-driven power struggles within a ruling black elite appears a thinly-veiled attack on the current situation in the ANC between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.

After the brutal final scene in which a beaten and bloodied Biko breathes his final breathe, the audience rose as one to applaud a brilliant piece of theatre, which deserves more than its three day run at the Festival and to go on to tour South Africa and hopefully, internationally.

TEN BUSH, presented by the Market Theatre, written and directed by Mncedisi Shabangu, co-written by Craig Higginson (main, drama, world premiere, Rhodes Box, today – Thursday at 7pm, tomorrow – Friday at 2pm and 7pm, Saturday at 11am and 3pm):

Reviewed by Leon Muston, Arts Editor

TEN Bush is an emotionally and politically charged drama playing out in a world where traditional beliefs clash with personal relationships.

The story is set in a village in Mpumalanga, where centuries ago a battle took place when 10 tribal leaders united to fight their Basotho enemies.

But Chief Maluza (Hamilton Dlhamini) went against the plan, withdrawing his soldiers, leaving the others to be ambushed and killed.

Later he returned and settled at the spot, where now he and the other nine leaders haunt the village.

Maluza appears to Martha (Tinah Mnumzana), telling her to give birth to a daughter, and once that virgin daughter reaches womanhood, to sacrifice her, lifting the curse.

But Martha is unable to conceive and asks her husband Simon (Sello Sebotsane) and blind sister Khabonina (Zandile Msutwana) to have a child which she will raise as her own.

But a fall-out in the family leads Khabonina to keep the child, bringing it up with Albert (again, played by Dlhamini) as the father. Albert lost his wife years earlier, when she was murdered, having been accused of witchcraft.

At this point the story fast-forwards to the point when the daughter, Duduzile (Lebogang Modiba) has her first period. Now that Duduzile is a “woman”, Martha becomes determined to get custody, in order to go ahead with the sacrifice.

While the adults are battling, Duduzile meets the man of her dreams, Makungula (Xolile Gama), who she is unaware is the son of the chief.

Initially the two are rather shy around each other, not allowing a relationship to develop, until the point when Martha, Simon, Albert and Khabonina are appearing before the chief, asking him to rule on the custody issue.

The two take the opportunity to sneak off and have sex – of course meaning Duduzile is no longer a virgin.

But will this stop Martha’s devious plan?

It’s a very unusual production from an acting perspective – whenever a character is not central to the action, the actors remain just outside the acting area, throwing props to the central actors, or holding up branches or other objects to add to the scenery.

Also, I’d hate to be the one to have to clean up at the end of the production, as all sorts of liquids and solids get thrown around the stage at various points, Duduzile in particular getting soaked with a sticky liquid.

The acting cast is quite strong, managing to change between characters convincingly and also fairly good at singing at the few points where this is necessary.

The one minor criticism is that it takes quite a while before anything exciting happens – the first 20 minutes or so seem to drag.

But by the end it proves to be a thoroughly entertaining story which will also provide food for thought regarding the place for traditional practices in a modern world.

Well last night was fun.

I was due to see a show called Music in the Air at 7pm at a venue I’ve never been to before called the BB Zondani Hall.  It’s out of the main part of Grahamstown, in the township area.

I was quite looking forward to seeing it – it was due to be a musical tribute to the stars of South African music in the mid to late 1980s: Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Brenda Fassie, Chicco, Stimela and Lucky Dube among others.

But with no sign posts up to indicate where the venue was and no indication on the map exactly what road it was in, I went round in circles for about half an hour. Some local residents eventually managed to point out the venue to me. But it was deserted.

Not a soul in sight, no lights on, no cars parked there, nothing.

We’re trying to get to the bottom of it, although there are rumours that the organisers may have done a dissappearing act.

I didn’t get to see the show, or to sing along with old favourites like Papa Stop the War, Too Late for Mama or Umqombothi. But hey, on the positive side at least I got to see parts of Grahamstown I’ve never seen before!

UNDER THE STARS ABOVE THE TREE, presented by Yawazzi Theatre Productions, directed by Sanjin Muftic (fringe, physical theatre, Masonic One today at 2pm, tomorrow at 4pm):

Reviewed by Leon Muston, Arts Editor

THIS two-man production tells the story of a young boy in a world where the entire planet is covered by a huge tree and no living person has ever seen the sky, except the boy’s grandfather.

Grandpa is very old and is almost ready to die, but cannot until someone else on the planet has climbed to the top of the tree and seen the heavens. Based on the old man’s stories, the boy also believes he can only become a man once he has seen the sky.

Andrew Laubscher plays the boy, while the show’s writer John Keevy plays all the other parts and handles the multimedia aspects of the show.

There is a projection screen behind Laubscher, on to which Keevy paints some of the scenes and writes prose.

After establishing the background, the story picks up pace once the boy starts climbing (although Laubscher’s movements look more like he’s opening a series of windows than climbing up branches).

First he encounters a dassie (who prefers to be called a hyrax), the guardian of the specific segment of the tree, who teaches him about the importance of protecting one’s family.

Next he meets a bird, which isn’t very helpful – it’s philosophy being that people and animals should stick to the lot they’ve been given in life and not try to change their situation.

He next encounters a gorilla, which challenges him on his definition of a man and how seeing the sky can help him become one.

His final encounter is with a snake, which tries to eat him, but also helps on his journey of self-discovery.

The dassie, bird and snake are done with puppets, while the gorilla is just a mask.

In the Fringe booking kit, this show is listed under physical theatre, says it has a PG rating and that the “nature of the production will be disrupted by children”.

But I can’t see how it would. There is nothing adult in nature or disturbing in the content and the show seems better suited to children than adults.

If anything, it is probably have been a better choice for little ones than some of the options officially placed in the children’s theatre category.

I’M NOT THERE (main, film, directed by Todd Haynes, starring Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Marcus Carl Franklin and Ben Whishaw, Olive Schreiner Hall, tomorrow – Saturday –  at 3pm):

Reviewed by Leon Muston, Arts Editor

IN eight years of film reviewing, I’ve never seen as many people walk out at the end of a movie looking utterly confused as I did with the film I’m Not There.

The film is about Bob Dylan … only, it isn’t.

Six different actors including a black child (Marcus Carl Franklin) and a woman (Cate Blanchett) play six different characters all of whom have elements of Dylan’s characteristics, although none of them are actually Dylan.

Franklin plays Woody, a young boy who is trying to start a career as a blues singer, despite the fact that he doesn’t have the life experience to understand what he’s singing about.

Blanchett, Christian Bale and Ben Whishaw, are the three who’s characters match closest to Dylan – each playing a professional musician.

Bale’s character, Jack, is the one who becomes a folk star, but annoys his fans by plugging in his guitar and turning to electric rock ‘n roll, before quitting the business and turning to religion.

Blanchett’s Jude is the one who introduces the Beatles to drugs, and personally destroys him/herself by indulging in the same vice.

Whishaw’s character is only seen in black and white interview segments, seemingly after being arrested.

The late Heath Ledger in one of the last films he ever made, plays Robbie, an actor who stars in Jack’s life story, and then struggles to separate his career from that of the musician.

The strangest of all is Richard Gere’s character – historic outlaw Billy the Kid. Quite what he’s got to do with Dylan beats me.

The six stories are separate from each other, but do occasionally interlink. This adds to the confusion, because if Woody’s story is set in the 1950s, how can he come into contact with Billy the Kid?

Dylan fans will recognise all the songs in the soundtrack including The Times They are A-Changing and All Along the Watch Tower, and will pick up various references to important points of his career.

But overall the film is so non-linear and confusing, you find yourself having to concentrate from start to finish and never manage to just sit back and relax.