An archive of hot news from 2008

Blood Knot in St. Louis, USA

Upstream Theater present Blood Knot from 23 Oct- 9 Nov 2008 in the Kranzberg Arts Center.  The director is Philip Boehm and the actors are J. Samuel Davis and John Pierson.  Set design is by Scott Neale, costumes by Michele Siler and lighting by John Armstrong.  Click on the image for details.

The Island and Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act

The Lion and Unicorn Theatre is London has an African season which includes performances of The Island and Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act. You can see them as a double bill, or on separate evenings from 1-5 Oct 2008. 

The director is Dumle Kogbara and the actors are Alec Parkinson, Dani McCallum and Mary Tynan (Statements) and Kyle Turlunch and Chris Rochester (Island).  Click on the image above for details.  Recommended.

The Road to Mecca, Canada

The Shawfest in Ontario will include a reading of The Road to Mecca on 13 Jul 2008.  It will be directed by Goldie Semple.  Click on the image for more details.

Valley Song, Australia

Merrigong Theatre Company and Seymour Centre present Valley Song.  It is directed by Anne-Louise Rentell and stars Phillip Hinton and Alexandria Steffensen.  It is at the Seymour Centre, Sydney from 4– 16 Aug 2008.

Blood Knot in Zimbabwe

Peter Churu and Isaac Mapfumo present Blood Knot at the Mannenburg Restaurant at Harare’s Fife Avenue Shopping Centre from 23 Jul- 2 Aug 2008.
 

The Island on film

The Theatre Museum in London are showing the film of John Kani and Winston Ntshona performing The Island at the RNT in 2000.  The film is showing on 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 July 2008.  Click on the image for more details.

Interview and articles

"African Theatre" 4 Southern Africa issue has an interview with Fugard by Dennis Walder, along with related articles.  It is edited by David Kerr, for James Currey, Oxford.  Thanks to James for the information.

Lecture on Fugard, London, UK

CRGR host a lecture on 28 May 2008 by Professor Marianne McDonald, Professor of Classics and Theatre at the University of California, San Diego.  The subject is Black Antigone and Gay Oedipus: Postcolonial Legacies, and the abstract reads "Colonizers have used many tools to subdue the natives of the countries they occupied, and one of the most powerful was the ‘civilizing’ culture they imposed. The natives would often turn these tools into weapons to oppose their occupiers by beating their “masters” at their own games, and reassert their own rights and values. This applied to the classics also, and Greek tragedy in particular.

I take three examples from South Africa: a black Antigone, Athol Fugard’s 1973 The Island (devised with Winston Ntshona and John Kani), and two gay Oedipus plays, Fugard’s 2004 Exits and Entrances, and Ashraf Johaardien’s Happy Endings are Extra (2006). In the first play, black prisoners enact Antigone in prison and make an impassioned plea for freedom. It may have helped influence the demise of apartheid, leading to the first free election in the new Republic of South Africa in 1994. The second play features Fugard as a young apprentice to the great South African actor André Huguenet, who introduced great European theatre to South Africa, a county that was not ready for it, or for an openly gay actor. There are allusions to the Oedipus story, arguably Huguenet’s greatest role, ending with his exit in despair. Enter Fugard.

Just as Huguenet was the old actor, replaced by the young Fugard whose writings represented the new South Africa, perhaps now, since Fugard is seventy-five, Johaardien represents the new type of theatre that will replace his. Each pass on the torch of vital South African theatre that speaks to the world. The final play takes place in a society that is finally more accepting to gays. South Africa legalized gay marriages with the Civil Union Act of 2006, the first country in Africa to do so. This play traces the story of a gay relationship that turns out to be disastrous when the partners turn out to be father and son. Sophocles’ Antigone and Oedipus Tyrannus helped shape these modern plays that place the ancient myth in its new historical and cultural context. Myth and Greek tragedy are ready to help us define and potentially solve the problems we face today."

Click on the image for more details.

Victory in California, USA premiere

Victory come to the USA with the premiere in California.  The director is Stephen Sachs and the actors are Morlan Higgins, Lovensky Jean-Baptiste and Tinashe Kajese.  The producers are Simon Levy and Deborah Lawlor.  It is on from 17- 25 Jan 2008 at the Fountain Theatre, California.  Click on the image for more details.

The production moves to the Lobero Theatre from 8- 11 May 2008.

Hello and Goodbye in London, UK

Hello and Goodbye will be staged at the Trafalgar Studios, London.  It is presented by Treatment Theatre/ English Touring Theatre and is directed by Paul Robinson.  It is on from 22 Apr- 17 May 2008.

Daar Leef Mense Daar (People are living there), South Africa

An Afrikaans verson of People are living there is coming to Cape Town, South Africa.  The translation is by Marko van der Colff, the director is Juanita Swanepoel and the actors include Denise Newman and Johann Nel.

“Die Suid-Afrikaanse dramaturg Athol Fugard word wêreldwyd gesien as een van die beste hedendaagse dramaturge, en sy bekende drama “People are living there” – geskryf in die 1960’s – word beskou as een van die beste dramas uit die suidelike halfrond.  Soos in al Fugard se werk, sien ons hier ook die krag en uithouvermoë van die mens in die aangesig van teëspoed en vernedering, en die noodsaaklikheid van hoop en humor om heling te bring in ‘n uitsiglose bestaan.”

It is on from 1- 8 Jan 2008 at the Fountain Theatre, Kaapstad, South Africa.  Click on the image for more details.

Blood Knot in San Francisco, USA

The American Conservatory Theatre will be performing Blood Knot in 2008. It is on from 8 Feb- 9 Mar 2008.  Click on the link for more information.

The Road to Mecca, Canada

The Shawfest in Ontario will include a reading of The Road to Mecca on 13 Jul 2008.  It will be directed by Goldie Semple.  Click on the image for more details.

Valley Song, Australia

Merrigong Theatre Company and Seymour Centre present Valley Song.  It is directed by Anne-Louise Rentell and stars Phillip Hinton and Alexandria Steffensen.  It is at the Seymour Centre, Sydney from 4– 16 Aug 2008.

Blood Knot in Zimbabwe

Peter Churu and Isaac Mapfumo present Blood Knot at the Mannenburg Restaurant at Harare’s Fife Avenue Shopping Centre from 23 Jul- 2 Aug 2008.
 

The Island on film

The Theatre Museum in London are showing the film of John Kani and Winston Ntshona performing The Island at the RNT in 2000.  The film is showing on 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 July 2008.  Click on the image for more details.

Interview and articles

"African Theatre" 4 Southern Africa issue has an interview with Fugard by Dennis Walder, along with related articles.  It is edited by David Kerr, for James Currey, Oxford.  Thanks to James for the information.

Lecture on Fugard, London, UK

CRGR host a lecture on 28 May 2008 by Professor Marianne McDonald, Professor of Classics and Theatre at the University of California, San Diego.  The subject is Black Antigone and Gay Oedipus: Postcolonial Legacies, and the abstract reads "Colonizers have used many tools to subdue the natives of the countries they occupied, and one of the most powerful was the ‘civilizing’ culture they imposed. The natives would often turn these tools into weapons to oppose their occupiers by beating their “masters” at their own games, and reassert their own rights and values. This applied to the classics also, and Greek tragedy in particular.

I take three examples from South Africa: a black Antigone, Athol Fugard’s 1973 The Island (devised with Winston Ntshona and John Kani), and two gay Oedipus plays, Fugard’s 2004 Exits and Entrances, and Ashraf Johaardien’s Happy Endings are Extra (2006). In the first play, black prisoners enact Antigone in prison and make an impassioned plea for freedom. It may have helped influence the demise of apartheid, leading to the first free election in the new Republic of South Africa in 1994. The second play features Fugard as a young apprentice to the great South African actor André Huguenet, who introduced great European theatre to South Africa, a county that was not ready for it, or for an openly gay actor. There are allusions to the Oedipus story, arguably Huguenet’s greatest role, ending with his exit in despair. Enter Fugard.

Just as Huguenet was the old actor, replaced by the young Fugard whose writings represented the new South Africa, perhaps now, since Fugard is seventy-five, Johaardien represents the new type of theatre that will replace his. Each pass on the torch of vital South African theatre that speaks to the world. The final play takes place in a society that is finally more accepting to gays. South Africa legalized gay marriages with the Civil Union Act of 2006, the first country in Africa to do so. This play traces the story of a gay relationship that turns out to be disastrous when the partners turn out to be father and son. Sophocles’ Antigone and Oedipus Tyrannus helped shape these modern plays that place the ancient myth in its new historical and cultural context. Myth and Greek tragedy are ready to help us define and potentially solve the problems we face today."

Click on the image for more details.