Bookings open on Monday 9 May for this year’s National Arts Festival, a feast of theatre, dance, music, visual art and more that runs in Grahamstown from 30 June to 10 July.
The full #NAF16 programme will be available on the website. It will be fully searchable as well as available as a downloadable PDF. Tickets can be bought online via the website, using our fully secure and tailored ticketing system.
Hot-ticket shows – such as the world premiere of Lara Foot’s new play The Inconvenience of Wings, and Janni Younge’s The Firebird – are expected to sell out fast.
Responding to user feedback and ongoing research, the website has been redesigned to make it simpler to find and book for shows, says Festival CEO Tony Lankester.
“The look of the site will largely be familiar but we have carefully analysed our users’ experiences and made subtle tweaks to the process of registering and booking,” he says.
Another online innovation is the introduction of print-at-home tickets to reduce queueing time at the box office, and the introduction of new payment methods, including SnapScan.
HOT TICKETS
Other unmissable shows and performers on this year’s programme include:
SOLO THEATRE
Hot theatre talents will add plenty of energy to the Solo Theatre programme, where the alluring Jemma Kahn will present In Bocca Al Lupo. Penny, starring Zethu Dhlomo, tells the story of a young woman’s struggles to make it in the arts; and Fiona Ramsay is a treacherous victim in Blonde Poison, a tale that questions the most difficult forms of forgiveness.
MUSIC
The Festival will showcase a wide range of music. Apart from the country’s favourite jazz offering, the Standard Bank Jazz Festival, other genres share the spotlight as Prime Circle and the African Prince of hip hop, AKA, will feature along with a host of other exciting talents, including Caiphus Semenya, Ringo Madlingozi, The Muffinz and Asanda Mqiki.
Keeping it in the family, the accomplished Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner for Music, Avigail Bushakevitz (violin) will be joined in concert by her brother, Ammiel Bushakevitz (piano). Uruguayan multi-instrumentalist Mateo Mera vies for the rhythm spotlight with Colombia’s Vallenato King, Avaro Meza, in a focus on international music and Kathleen Tagg brings that focus right back home in a programme of piano pieces from African composers.
PERFORMANCE ART
Performance artist Gavin Krastin will present Pig Headed, while an intriguing Visual Arts programme includes exhibits by Moses Thladi (Unearthed) and Standard Bank Young Artist Award Winner Mohau Modisakeng with his exhibition, Lefa La Ntate, a poignant moment of grieving and catharsis and a critical response to the historical legacy of exploitation and current living experience of many black South Africans.
THINK!FEST
Think!Fest – a series of panel discussions on topics ranging from the #fallist movement and the plight of refugees in migration to decriminalising marijuana and decolonising the arts – promises additional brain food for Festival-goers.
The energy of the Festival is as much on the streets as on the stages and this year promises plenty to fuel debate, discussion and celebration around the tables of Grahamstown’s permanent and pop-up bars and restaurants.
FOLLOW US
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Released for the National Arts Festival by:
Rabbit in a Hat Communications
Sascha Polkey
021 300 0052
083 414 0552
sascha@rabbitinahat.co.za
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