The Festival’s commitment to honouring South African artists and to providing a platform for South African voices continued into this, its second decade. The programme for the 1985 Standard Bank National Festival of the Arts, with a cover designed by Cecil Skotnes, is packed with names and titles familiar to seasoned audiences and newcomers alike.

John Kani, fresh from a critically acclaimed season in London, returned to our stages with Danny Keogh and Dorothy Ann Gould in Harold Pinter’s One for the Road, while James Borthwick joined the cast of Paul Slabolepszy’s Under the Oaks and Over the Hill. Sidwill Harman, the Standard Bank Young Artist for music award-winner, featured in the curated music section, along with the Rand Mines Brass Band, and marimba player Robert van Sice. 

Perhaps one of the most interesting features of this year was the increasing politicization of work presented on the Fringe. As an open-access programme with no curation or selection process, the Fringe has always been the ideal space for artists to be daring, experimental and outspoken, and the contemporary work here is often thought-provoking, political and challenging. This year, the Fringe included the likes of Sizwe Banzi is Dead, presented by Wits University, Ubu for President, from the Loft Theatre Company with Nicholas Ellenbogen, and Who’s Right. Robyn Orlin, celebrated South African dancer and choreographer, returned with Here for the Duration, and the Gugulethu Dance Ensemble presented Zama at the DSG School Hall.