Best ot the fest in Joburg

Three award-winning productions fresh from sold out shows at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown are being performed in Johannesburg at WITS 969.
A TRIO of award-winning productions are headed for the WITS 969 Festival from sold out performances at the National Arts Festival (NAF), held in July in Grahamstown.

Big BoysNamed for the distance in kilometres between Grahamstown and Johannesburg, 969 is an annual event at Wits Theatre, and is presented as part of the Joburg Arts Alive International Festival.

Cathy Pisanti, Wits Theatre’s public relations and marketing officer, says WITS 969 “is renowned for offering theatre fans in Joburg the opportunity to experience the best of the NAF, right in their hometown”.

WITS 969 will run from 21 to 30 September at the Wits Theatre Complex on Wits University’s East Campus. It will feature three productions which helped to turn this year’s National Arts Festival into such a success, she says.

First up is Flicker, directed and co-created by Gerard Bester and performed and co-created by Andrew Buckland, Craig Morris and Athena Mazarakis. It will be on at the Wits Downstairs Theatre.

This production comes from the same artistic team responsible for the award-winning Attachments (nos 1-7). This time, however, Bester, Morris and Mazarakis are joined by the award-winning Andrew Buckland. Flicker debuted in Grahamstown, where it played to capacity houses.

“Flicker explores the notion of ‘loss’ through a playful exploration of the disappearances that happen in people’s daily lives. This is conveyed through the interplay between the projected video presence of Buckland and the live performance of Mazarakis and Morris,” Pisanti says.

The second production is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s age-old love story, Romeo and Juliet.

Pisanti explains: “The play is set in a Catholic boarding school during the 1950s, when four pupils discover an illicit copy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and start acting it out. Perceptions and understandings are turned upside down as the fun of play-acting turns serious and the words and meanings begin to hit home and universal truths emerge.”

A sassy version of Romeo and JulietA sassy version of Romeo and Juliet will run at the Wits TheatreDirected by Fred Abrahamse from an adaptation by Joe Calarco, this version of Romeo and Juliet has been described by the press as “very powerful” and “one of the most engrossing love stories ever to grace the South African stage”, says Pisanti.

The play features actors Marcel Meyer, James MacGregor, Rory Acton Burnell and Alistair Moulton Black.

Wrapping up WITS 969 is Big Boys Don’t Dance, which was described by the official NAF publication, Cue, as the “South African version of The Hangover meets Flashdance, with all the technical perfection of a Broadway musical”.

Directed and choreographed by Vanessa Harris, it is performed by Ash Searle and Bradley Searle, and is suitable for an audience of all ages.

Real-life Pretoria brothers, Ash and Brad, set the stage alight using witty physical comedy, phenomenal dance talent and ingenious scripting, she says. “From late 1980s hip-hop to kwaito, dirty dancing to the shuffle, the dance takes this brilliant comedy play to new levels of entertainment.”

Tickets for all these productions are available at the door for R70 and R45 for students. For discounted prices and to make pre-bookings, visit Strictly Tickets.