Despite being well into its third decade, the 1998 Festival boasted a number of exciting firsts! On the Curated Drama programme there were no fewer than eight plays written by South Africans. Of the total of 11 productions, seven were premieres. Brazilian actress and playwright Denise Stoklos made her first appearance in our country, as did Pulitzer Prize winning dramatist August Wilson. The State Theatre Ballet, now in its 35th year, came to Makhanda for the very first time, and Brett Bailey brought Ipi Zombi.

Elsewhere in the programme were more familiar faces:, Reza de Wet and Marthinus Basson staged Yelena at the Victoria Theatre, and Nhlanhla Xaba was the featured Young Artist for Visual Arts. And on the comedy pages of the Fringe Mark Banks performed his popular stand-up show, while Alan Committie was Richard III.  Theatre for Africa had a full programme of 6 new works at DSG Hall, while Kevin Feather played in Pianoforte-Something at the Glennie Festival Centre.