Festival of Fame - National School of the Arts

Last edited: February 19, 2010

Posted by Business and Arts South Africa

Preparations for the 9th annual Festival of Fame are well underway.

The National School of the Arts’ learners and other amateur and professional artists are feverishly putting the finishing touches to their art, dance, drama and music productions for this year’s Festival of Fame. The 2010 Festival has been moved to March instead of May because of the FIFA Soccer World Cup, and needless to say the first term has been running at a hectic pace. Fortunately our team possesses the enthusiasm and experience to let the pressure work for us and not against us.

The 2010 Festival opens on 15 March and runs until Saturday 20th March at various venues at the NSA, the newly refurbished Alexander Theatre, and two venues in the Joburg Theatre, the space.com and the Fringe (previously the Tesson.)

The six-day festival encompasses a wide variety of performances, workshops and exhibitions under its “truly famous, newly famous and the about-to-be famous” theme. It showcases the talents of young people, up-an-coming stars and established artists and affords the ‘wannabes’ an opportunity to engage with professional artists.

The Festival Committee , headed by deputy principal Sonja Burger and assisted by Charmaine Stander and the HODs of all the specialist fields of Art, Drama, Music and Dance has put together an exciting programme and as in previous years, the schools and public have already been clamouring for tickets. “Starting last year, we have now added our own festival fringe events in the evenings to accommodate more audiences, and this allows for more experimental theatre, poetry and more cutting edge content”, says Sonja Burger, the Festival Director.

The event is supported by the Gauteng Education Department, RMB, the Lotto , Audio Sure, 24 Carrots together with media support from the youth magazine Seventeen, Morning Live and Business and Arts South Africa.

The Theatre programme is choc-a-block full with outstanding productions. Acclaimed performers Rob van Vuuren, doing Rob van Wuren, is back at the festival, as well as other well know theatre luminaries. Daniel Buckland, son of Andrew will be directing The Butcher’s Brother, and Andrew Buckland and Richard Antrobus will be presenting Stilted. Kate Liquorice of Koeksister fame is doing One woman, one show. Tsetsi Matlakala, previous Naledi winner, is doing Eight o’Clock, and Mother Body presents Vimba Juvela, written and directed by Mncidisi Shabangu. The Department of Arts and Culture will be having a daily Interactive workshop on the field during lunchtime. We are particularly delighted to welcome director Helen Eskander and actors James Cunningham and Keren Tahor in Jutro.

The National School of the Arts is offering a new and vibrant version of Sarafina directed by Kebu Mwale. The cast is thoroughly enjoying the rehearsals, and the choreography and singing is of the highest caliber, and promises to be one of the highlights on the FOF calendar.
The Popular Music department presents Rock Star, a musical explosion of contemporary hits featuring the smooth, the funky and everything else in between every day at the festival.

Dance features prominently with the production of Dance Spectrum. Under the direction of Mr Moran, the classical ballet will include a medley of Tchaikovsky’s beautiful music with highlights from a variety of well loved ballet scores, and the contemporary and Jazz under the direction of Ms Jones and Nel sections will be doing a dance and vocal tribute to Michael Jackson, featuring this beloved artist’s greatest hits.

Art exhibitions will be held at the NSA Art Gallery, together with a photo workshop where visitors will be able to have photographs taken which will be immediately downloaded as a keepsake. Visitors will be able to view the young NSA artists at work, and will be mesmerized by the variety of three dimensional art on show. The puppets, ceramics, clocks, jewellery and masks created by these learners are truly breathtaking. Mrs Sotiriades and her teachers have created a magical department for these talented learners to develop their passion. Another Festival highlight is the ever popular Meet the Stars which is organized by Ms van der Merwe where well-known local TV, theatre and music stars grace the stage.

Day as well as evening tickets are available at the FOF office at R60 and school block bookings R50 per learner.

“This year’s festival will come close to matching the glamour and excitement of the FIFA World Cup and we invite one and all to join us in celebrating the arts in Jozi”, says Burger.

For more information and a full schedule of times, prices and venues for all the productions please click here or call the Festival Office 011 339 3941.