What started out as a rummaging through rubbish bins of Joza in Makhanda has evolved into an exhibition of large scale works made up largely of rubbish & found items; Waya Waya… Imoto Yocingo by award winning artist, Nyaniso Lindi. The title is an IsiXhosa slang that directly translates into a hustle & bustle, or a state of chaos. Waya Waya uses what we discard in our daily lives to touch on issues of identity, migration, consumerism, power and greed.
Choreographer/director, Nelisiwe Xaba, and video artist/director, Mocke J van Veuren integrate digital technology and physical performance in Fake News. Working with Rhodes University students in residency in Makhanda before the festival, they blur the lines between body and screen, reality and mediated image.
After taking home a Standard Bank Ovation Award for the charming 2020 online work Ouma Lilly & Haar Klong, Jeremeo Le Cordeur returns to the NAF Arena stage with Dude, Where’s My Bakkie? After discovering his bakkie was stolen, Dean September (Le Cordeur) recollects the many moments attached to the Nissan 1400, gifted on the character’s 21st birthday. Surviving a broken heart and a nasty road rage encounter, the audience enjoys music from the 90s on the way to meeting various characters and experiencing the Cape from a fresh perspective.
After recently appearing on the global TV show Got Talent All-Stars, a show curated from the ‘Got Talent’ TV show acts from around the world, Brendon Peel and Li Lau will be back from their international travels to perform Double Bluff: An Extreme Magic Show. Peel will also present Magic of Sideshow and Impossible on the NAF Fringe. The Fringe is where audiences will also find punk fusion band Undead Generation who hail from nearby Gqeberha.
Staying local with Rivals! Adapt or die, students from the Best Foot Forward project excavate what lies behind the intense rivalry between two adjacent townships, Fingo Village and Tantyi township, in old Grahamstown. The animosity between Mfengu and Xhosa ran so strong it lasted over 150 years and remained well into the twentieth century.
For those who love a little cheeky fun, solo drag-cabaret-burlesque extravaganza Ripe ‘n Ready will delight Fringe audiences. Fresh, funny and flirty, the star of the show, Pichi Keane, comes to Makhanda hot from Hong Kong.
Seasoned NAF performer and Naledi Award winner Craig Morris will be directing Tessa Jubber and Ter Hollmann as a couple who fall out of love in Fool’s Errand and Francois Botha brings Best of Both Concerts filled with reminiscent, familiar tunes by great composers such as Debussy, Elgar, Brahms and Tchaikovsky that have stood the test of time.
The Fringe continues to be a space for innovation and is also an important platform for new work. Student drama is firmly back on the programme with University of Venda, Limpopo University, Tshwane University, Wits, AFDA Johannesburg, University of Zululand, Sonwa Sakuba Institute for the Performing Arts, Jika Performing Arts College, TUT (eMalahleni Campus), Oakfields College of Dance, Prestige School of Dance, Sonwa Sakuba Institute for the Performing Arts, University of the Western Cape, Rhodes University, Kingswood College, CPUT Performing Arts Society, Curro Heritage House, Walter Sisulu University and the Phoenix College of Johannesburg all heading for Makhanda this year.