| WESTERN CAPE
GRADE 11 SCHOOLS' FESTIVAL AT ARTSCAPE
The eight representatives of Wynberg Boys’
High School arrived at Artscape early on the morning
of 15 March, all alive with keen anticipation.
The morning began with a short introduction from the
organisers, which was followed by an hilarious talk
by comedian Alan Committie. A short tea then preceded
Water Pockets, a simple love story between a young
rural woman and a sophisticated urban male. The story
is set against the backdrop of a small village undergoing
a large change in the 21st century.
After a short break came one of the highlights of
the whole festival – a one-man show entitled
Bad Apple. The play, written and acted by Brett Goldin,
told the story of an incident at a high school, seen
through the eyes of seven distinctly different characters
and ranges from outright hilarious to hauntingly sad.
Each character tells a different part of the story,
building to an emotional climax.
Lunch came and was succeeded by two different theatrical
genres – Catch you before I drop presented by
Jazzart and Monde and the Magic Box which was performed
by the Cape Town Opera. The Jazzart production was
one of dance, particularly contemporary dance, and
was filled with the stories of now top dancers and
their struggles from culturally ignorant communities.
As you can guess, Monde and the Magic Box was an opera
but with a distinct African flavour. The Cape Town
vocalists sang excerpts from operas and plays ranging
from West Side Story to Les Miserables, from Carmen
to the Three Tenors, all done in a proudly South African
way.
The last item of the day was a workshop. Each learner
went to one of the many different workshops on offer,
including Tell-Tale Signs where pupils could express
feelings and emotions using their own sign language;
Vocal Aerobics, a place to relax and stretch to maximise
voice potential; and Animal Passions, where students
created animals of themselves and performed as different
creatures.
The day ended but ‘The Show Must Go On’
and sure enough, the next morning reunited the inspired
learners outside the magnificent theatre. This morning
scholars visited two workshops separated by morning
tea and then entered the theatre for The Homeless
Menace, a play best described as controversial. It
documented the horrors of homelessness and the trauma
of isolation in front of a South African backdrop
and was punctuated quite violently with equally violent
language.
[Mr C Broster, Acting Head of English, lodged a complaint
with the organisers about this offensive drama, on
the grounds that it did not belong in a Schools’
Festival.]
Lunch was the next order of the day and after that,
Squawk! The performance was essentially Animal Passions
on stage as the actors turned themselves into various
birds, creating a highly entertaining show using props
ranging from a stick to a broken umbrella.
The day drew to a close with a final performance,
Colores del Cabo, presented by the talented dancers
of La Rosa Spanish Dance Theatre. Once again an African
flair was grafted onto a Spanish Dance making it,
too, proudly South African.
And so the festival ended, leaving many happy learners
with plenty of new memories and knowledge. The festival
was a definite success and all learners will be hoping
to go to the National Schools’ Festival in Grahamstown
next year.
Michael Klein
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