Capturing Sanity, conceived and directed by Pusetso Thibedi (current GIPCA, Baxter Theatre Centre and Theatre Arts Admin Collective Emerging Theatre Director’s Bursary winner), will run at Theatre Arts Admin Collective from 2-6 August. Performances are at 19:30 from 2-5 August and at 16:00 and 20:00 on 6 August. Bookings through 021 447 3683 or artsadmin@mweb.co.za.
On 4 August the Great Texts/Big Questions lecture series will see Andrew Nash, William Kentridge, Zackie Achmat and Dennis Davis discuss the topic of South African artists and cultural boycotts: should the latest call for a cultural boycott of Israel be heeded? The lecture will look at the predicament of South African artists, including Nadine Gordimer, William Kentridge and the Cape Town Opera, who have faced calls for a cultural boycott of Israel. Is this justified? Would it be effective? Should the Israeli occupation matter to South African artists and intellectuals? And is the experience of the boycotts of the 1980s here in South Africa relevant? Academic Andrew Nash, artist William Kentridge, activist Zackie Achmat and judge Dennis Davis will advance the discussion, whic h will be chaired by UCT Dean of Humanities and chairperson of the GIPCA Board, Professor Paula Ensor. The event will take place in Hiddingh Hall at 17:30 and is free. No booking is necessary, but seating is limited. Refreshments will be served from 17:00.
2011 Donald Gordon Creative Arts Fellow, Lance Herman, will be doing a short residency at the iArt Gallery from 3 to 10 August, during which the public are invited to view his recent work, Eliezer. Eliezer is a persona through which Herman has produced a body of writings, drawings and music. The works take the form two books (My Bedroom Wall and Middelburg) and two musical albums (Hall of Dreams and Knots). The residency will take place in the downstairs gallery, and is open to the public weekdays 14:00 – 17:00, and on Saturday morning 09:00 – 13:00.
The launch of The Zombie and the Moon: more tales from the shaman’s record, by 2009 Donald Gordon Creative Arts Fellow Peter Merrington, will take place on Friday 5 August 18:00 for 18:30 at Kalk Bay Books. Join the author in conversation with historian Dr Suzie Newton-King. The Zombie and the Moon: more tales from the shaman’s record is published by Jacana and is the first book publication resulting from the GIPCA Fellowships. RSVP to books@kalkbaybooks.co.za or 021 788 2266.
With previews on 23 and 24 August, running from 25 August – 2 September at 20:00, After Cardenio is a new and experimental work of theatre combining live performance and sculptural puppetry. ‘Cardenio’, for whom the work is named, is a character from the celebrated novel, Don Quixote, by the great Spanish author, Cervantes. In 1653 a play by Shakespeare and his sometime collaborator, John Fletcher, was registered under the title, ‘The History of Cardenio’. The playtext has never come to light, although the eighteenth century playwright, Lewis Theobald, claimed to be working from copies of the original when he wrote The Double Falsehood. Thus Cardenio (as it is popularly known) has come to be referred to as the ‘missing’ Shakespeare play.
The Renaissance scholar Stephen Greenblatt, from Harvard University, has commissioned several theatre-makers/writers to make new works with ‘Cardenio’ as a hypothetical point of origin, in order to consider what Shakespeare may have reworked from Cervantes’ romantic hero. This work, After Cardenio arises from such an invitation by Greenblatt, to Jane Taylor. After Cardenio is written and directed by Jane Taylor in collaboration with Aja Marneweck and the Paper Body Collective, sculptural puppet design and construction by Gavin Younge, with music composition and sound design by Julia Raynham. It is presented in association with GIPCA. Tickets available through Computicket soon. It will be performed in the Anatomy Theatre, Old Medical School Building, UCT Hiddingh Campus, Orange Street, Cape Town.
On 25 August Sandra Young will be addressing How Hamlet Became Modern as part of the Great Texts/Big Questions public lecture series. The event will take place at 17:30 at Hiddingh Hall and is free. No booking is necessary and refreshments will be served from 17:00.
Film and Dance: Innovative Art on the Rise is a three-day conference on the artistic intersection between dance and film, also commonly known as screendance. The event will open on 26 August 2011 with the South African Premiere of PINA 3D by German filmmaker Wimm Wenders, presented in association with the Goethe Institute. It runs until 28 August. The conference will showcase the latest trends and technology in dance media as well as special screenings of dance films from across the globe. Featured international guests include Deirdre Towers, associate producer of the 35th Dance on Camera Festiv al in New York, and Danish South African filmmaker and choreographer, Jeannette Ginslov. Tickets available through Computicket soon.
Chinese born pianist Patsy Toh will be performing on Wednesday 31 August at 20:00 in Hiddingh Hall as part of the Music in the City concert series. She will be performing Haydn’s Sonate in A flat major Hob XV1:46 and Variations in F minor, as well as Chopin’s Prelude in C sharp minor op.45 and 24 Preludes op.28. The event is free and no booking is necessary.
