NATIONAL ART FESTIVAL

KZN ON THE FRINGE

There is a strong KZN presence on the Fringe drama section of the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahams-town, particularly from Greig Coetzee who offers The Blue Period of Milton van der Spuy directed by Garth Anderson. Greig also appears in the multi-award winning play (also directed by Garth), White Men with Weapons, which clinched four major awards and an invitation to perform at New York's Lincoln Theatre. In contrast, Suck! sees Greig meditating on life, the universe and vacuum cleaners. He also directs top band Landscape Prayers and Kim van Staden in I Spy Blue Sky.

The multi-faceted Aldo Brincat presents what is described as a scatological side-splitter in Moron... Than Off! and Ellis Pearson and Bheki Mkhwane put audiences through a crazy physical romp in Holy Moses. Ellis also appears in the provocatively eccentric Sirkus Kaput while Bheki also appears in a one-man show, Solomon's Pride.

IRREPRESSIBLE

The irrepressible duo, Lisa Bobbert and Aaron McIlroy offer mirth and murder in an Agatha Christie `spoof', The Con-dominium Murder Mystery Show which features super-sleuth `Isobel Holmes'. They are also presenting their popular raunchy rock 'n roll comedy Sex, Bugs & Rock 'n Roll which tells of the trials and tribulations of the obnoxious `Charmaaaayne' and henpecked `Bruce'.

Female performers are much to the fore - Adi Paxton packs up Cherry the Clown and all her magic paraphernalia to head to the festival for the fourth time with two productions.

Calli Denton and Melissa Wood present Rudy and the Other One, a farcical play about four men in a mental institution.

Catherine Mace appears in two one-woman plays directed by Mario Schiess, The Chosen and My Son, My Son.

CONTEMPORARY

Private Universe

with Ben Voss and Teresa Borrageiro is a contemporary drama exploring family relationships.

There are several shows from the Brighton Extension production group (see separate article)

MUSIC

Durban Black Drifters make their festival debut with The Isicathamiya Image, Juan Burgers' Co-Opera Ensemble Theatre presents Don Giovanni and the popular Staying Alive directed by Themi Venturas hits the festival for the fifth time!

All in all, a pretty good showing from KZN. Good luck to all - come back satisfied in soul and in pocket!

COMPETITION

But the competition's pretty fierce with energetic and motivated theatre com-panies from all over South Africa and beyond heading for this premier arts event to offer their work, cover their costs and, hopefully, make a good profit.

One of the drama highlights on the Fringe is sure to be the acclaimed Dylan Thomas Return Journey directed by Sir Anthony Hopkins. Drawing on the Welsh poet and author's works (including A Child's Christmas in Wales), actor Bob Kingdom is said to give a mesmerising performance.

Also on offer is John Constable's weird solo act, I was an Alien Sex God (Con-fessions of a Bowiemaniac), adapted from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray with a contemporary twist.

BEETLE

Steven Berkoff's version of Metamor-phosis elaborates on Franz Kafka's classic tale of a man who suddenly turns into a beetle.

Marita van der Vyver's best-seller, Griet skryf 'n sprokie, featuring Lizz Meiring and Hannes Muller, is one of several productions that Deon Opperman is bringing to the festival.

The eighth in a long line of festival successes, Raiders of the Scarlet Pimple, accompanies Nicholas Ellenbogen's Theatre for Africa production of The Man who Jumped in the Lake.

Described as physical and funny, Green-spot is the joint effort of Andrew Buckland (director) and Bevan Cullinan.

Maurice Maeterlink's The Intruder is being directed by the acclaimed Reza de

Wet, while Patrick Sskind's The Pigeon has been workshopped by graduates of the Le Coq Theatre School in Paris. Another overseas production, direct from its London run, is Naked Wedding.

In Coming on Strong! the University of Namibia students take their cue from some of the region's dramatists, poets and writers.

SENSITIVE

From the sensitive issue of euthanasia in Enigma to crime in Joanna Weinberg and Gina Shmukler's Silk Ties, themes are topical and diverse such as A Love Story or Two by Peter Hayes and The Chosen, dealing with adultery in modern times.

As always, comedy forms a major part of the Fringe with such shows as Abangani Theatre's The Last Mile. Also in the line-up is Elizabeth, Almost by Chance a Woman, Dario Fo's satiric re-interpretation of the reign of the formi-dable monarch. Director Christopher Weare also directs Woody Allen's Lovborg's Women Considered.

Irene Stephanou explores what it means to be young and of Greek origin in South Africa in Meze, Mira and Make-up.

The young Botswana-based Maru-a-Pula Drama Group offers Living with Lady Macbeth while Margit Meyer-R”denbeck turns to comedy with A Scorpio's Tail. The bilingual Tanya van der Merwe lodges her tongue firmly in her cheek in the Snap Kekkel Pop.

Billed as a riotously funny production, the Trick is to Keep Breathing showcases the many talents of Denise Newman.

Stand-up artists include Gilda Blacher, Martin Koboekae, Rosie Fiore, Johnny Campher, Patrick Kenny, Irit Noble and John Vlismas and Shaun Griggs (of Durban Poison fame).

In All Classical Music Explained: the Masterclass, Britain's acclaimed Rainer Hersch who had audiences rolling in the aisles (including me!, Ed.) is back at the festival to raise more laughter.

ATTRACTIONS

Other attractions are the Odeon Big Screen Film Festival and the Osprey Megamovie Festival, the latter featuring video and 16mm on a large screen. There's a live broadcast on July 12 of SAfm's popular Big Big Brunch.

If you're tired of being `arty', see the Albany Mohair Flock Competition with demonstrations of shearing, performances by sheepdogs and displays of angora and mohair products.

You can attend workshops in leather crafting and slipper making. There's also daily wine tasting at De Wijn Huijs. (That's where I'll be! Ed.)