Drama for Life Sex Actually Festival

Last edited: August 31, 2012

Posted by Business and Arts South Africa

The 2012 Drama for Life (DFL) Sex Actually Festival kicked off last Thursday in Joburg and is still running until September 1, 2012.

The Festival opened with the not-so-politically-correct Songs about Sex by DeepFried Man, as well as the outstanding dance production Somewhere out there, life was screaming by dynamic and renowned choreographer Eric Languet in collaboration with the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative.

Saturday night saw the most popular national final of the 2012 DFL Lover+Another Performance Poetry Challeng, that attracted more than 300 poetry enthusiasts. After having attended a series of workshops and auditions, 12 poets from Grahamstown, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town and Johannesburg competed in the National Final at the Wits Theatre, performing their poems about love, sex and HIV and AIDS. Audiences were amazed by the level of quality that the Top 12 poets presented on stage and engaged with lively responses. Congratulations to the 20-year old Wits engineering student Nosipho Gumede, who won the 2012 DFL Lover + Another National Finals.

There have also been sold out performances and particular response to a number of exceptional works at DFL Sex Actually Festival and there’s still so much more to look forward to. Today sees the opening of four new works. Be sure not to miss Athena Mazarakis’ interactive performance Standing By. The performance delves into the loaded issue of gender violence in the South African context with a specific focus on the ‘corrective rape’ of lesbians. Mazarakis uses dynamic performative devises, metaphor and visual projection to create this extraordinary work. Standing By is staged Thursday and Friday at 7pm at UC19. Tickets can be bought at the box office at the Wits Theatre, audience members will be lead to the venue.

Be sure to come to Maboneng Prescient from tonight through to Saturday 5:00pm to watch Between created by Sello Pesa and Vaughn Sadie, facilitated by Sibongile Bhebhe and Peter Molefe. Audiences will be guided through the streets of Jeppestown and City Suburban to see narratives unfold and watch stories the space holds. The series of site specific performances will take into account the spatial and social complexities that make up the area. This performance presents smaller and often unseen or heard narratives in the context of the everyday to understand how the themes of relationship, intimacy, disease and sex are lived and experienced daily. Transport to Maboneng will leave from Wits Theatre at 4:15pm for this performance each day and will return after the performance Witness and Re/naissance (Deaths and Rebirths) at approximately 8:00pm.

Rwandan Artist Theogene Niwenshuti’s multidisciplinary dance and biographic performance Witness and Re/naissance (Deaths and Rebirths) is staged at GoetheonMain this week. Genocide survivor Niwenshuti tells his own moving story, while reflecting on interviews with Justice Edwin Cameron about healing trauma. This performance runs from Thursday to Saturday at 18h30 and Sunday at 14h30 at Goethe on Main.

Also opening tonight is In a Second directed by Robert Coleman at Wits Nunnery and the dance performance Side Paths choreographed by Kieron Jina supported by City Varsity, at the Wits Downstairs Theatre. Both performances are running till Saturday.

With only two performances left, catch Iago’s Last Dance which explores sub-themes of HIV and AIDS. The trilogy is written by Mike van Graan and directed by Leila Henriques, Makhaola Ndebele and Vanessa Cooke which premiered on Tuesday night and got an overwhelmingly positive response by the audience. The performance is running today at 13h15 and Friday 19h00 at the Wits Downstairs Theatre.

Tomorrow is also the last day to book your place on the workshop (Wo)Man Up! which takes place on Saturday 1 September, 10:00am – 1:00pm and 2:00pm till 5:00pm. This workshop explores cross dressing for woman, and is facilitated by Counselling Psychologist Claire Jaynes. Participation in this event is free, but you do need to book: e-mail cjaynespsych@gmail.com.

Tickets for all performances range from R10 – R50.

For further information and interview requests, please email Miriam.Behrendt@wits.ac.za or contact Miriam Behrendt on 011 717 4733.