NAF 2021: TheCapeRobyn watchlist – July 9 – to be updated
| The National Arts Festival 2021- July 8-31,2021 Where: Online https://nationalartsfestival.co.za – NOTE- no live events taking place in Makhanda, 2021 NAF 2021 online includes: Curated Programme (96 works), Fringe (127), Standard Bank Jazz Festival, exhibitions, workshops, Eastern Cape Showcase, Theatre for Young Audiences |
The National Arts Festival 2021 kicked off yesterday, July 8, 2021 on the NAF’s website https://nationalartsfestival.co.za The Curated Programme runs until July 31. The Fringe will remain, online, after July 31 but offerings may change as artists submit their work to other platforms.
A key change from the 2020 vNAF (virtual NAF) is the number of live streams going out. One watches at an appointed time and that stream may or may not be available as recording via VOD – video-on-demand. We must also point out that if there is a VOD offering, it may be on for a limited period. All the comedy looks great. There are three Big Comedy Shows. One has aleady gone out (available as VOD) and there are two on the programme:
Hot picks from TheCapeRobyn watchlist:
Hedy! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr – performed by – July 10, 2021, at 5pm as a live stream from then RVK Fringe Festival in Reykjavík, Iceland. There will be a Q&A after. The Austrian born Hedy became a Hollywood film star and inventor (includes WiFi). So this show is being streamed from Iceland to South Africa and then routed around the world. AnotherKind – on July 16 and 17 – is Amy Louise Wilson’s response around her award winning play which was she wasn’t able to stage last year [2020] because of Covid and again in 2021, there is only an online option. I am looking forward to seeing Metsi (water) written and directed by Hannah van Tonder with dramaturgy by Paul Noko.
| Shows already watched by TheCapeRobyn – highly recommended- all available as VOD on the NAF 2011 Garage Dance Ensemble’s Gat innie Grond, Wond in My Siel’, (Hole in the Ground, Wound in my Soul) on the Curated Programme. Garage is headed up by Alfred Hinkel and John Linden, in collaboration with an extraordinary team of creatives. It is a stirring and evocative film which mashes up compelling documentary narrative and dance. Direct booking link: https://nationalartsfestival.co.za/show/gat-innie-grond-wond-in-my-siel-hole-in-the-ground-wound-in-my-soul/ Coleen van Staden’s Perfect Day – Pictures from a Dark Room. The solo memoir drama is on the vFringe as VOD. It is memoir inspired solo performance which presents a wry look at family and unpacks the fact that many families are not perfect and that parent soldier on, carrying their own baggage as they try and “bring up” their own children. Beautifully written. I look forward to seeing this staged in a theatre. Direct booking link: https://nationalartsfestival.co.za/show/perfect-day-pictures-from-a-dark-room/ Available as VOD- ie for the entire festival Zane Meas in his tribute to the writer, Chris Van Wyk – Van Wyk The Storyteller of Riverlea. I saw this superb one person show at the Baxter and was riveted. It has been filmed for the NAF. Direct booking link: https://nationalartsfestival.co.za/show/van-wyk-the-story-teller-of-rivierlea/ Innovative Faeron Wheeler of F Creations, a production company in Cape Town is presenting three shows at the vFringe: Your Perfect Life, Jam Every Day and (extra)ordinary, (un)usual. Your Perfect Life is a poignant and funny take on the issue of having children versus not having them and the pressures women take on from society to conform. The (extra)ordinary, (un)usual piece was screened online in 2020 and is based on monologues by Australian writer Peter Mailki. Booking links: https://nationalartsfestival.co.za/show/your-perfect-life-2/ https://nationalartsfestival.co.za/show/extraordinary-unusual/ https://nationalartsfestival.co.za/show/jam-every-other-day/ |
| TheCapeRobyn watchlist for NAF 2021- most are VOD JUDITH SEPHUMA – July 8, 2021 Peeling Shadows – July 8, 2021 JITSVINGER TRIO (RESTORIANS) – July 8, 2021 Mandisi Dyantyis – July 8, 2021 BAIUCA presents “Embruxo” – July 9, 2021 The Brazilian Jazz Quartet – July 10, 2021 HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr – Live Stream July 10, 2021 The Very Big Comedy Show – Makhanda Online – Live Stream July 10, 2021 KGANYA (Light) – Lulu Mlangeni – July 10, 2021 Ndinxaniwe – July 11, 2021 Commission Continua – July 11, 2021 JUNGLE THEATRE – The Magic Shell – July 12, 2021 Metsi | Live Stream – July 15, 2021 Antie Wi’Oekal | Live Stream – July 17, 2021 AnotherKind | Live Stream 16 July – July 16, 2021 AnotherKind | Live Stream 17 July – July 17, 2021 Van Wyk, The Story Teller of Riverlea | VOD – July 29, 2021 |
Featured image: Metsi – going out as a live stream on June 15, The Curated Programme at NAF 2021- written and directed by Hannah van Tonder with dramaturgy by Paul Nok. Supplied.
