William Kentridge’s Refuse the Hour continues, and Grahamstown comes to Jo’burg.
? The current season of works by William Kentridge and collaborators is titled Refuse the Hour. The two-week programme of live performances rounds off next week with two unusual items that have grown out of Kentridge’s interest in handmade objects and their potential in recording time. The performance Dancing with Dada, on September 16 and 17 at 8pm and September 18 at 7pm, showcases the talent of dancer Dada Masilo in a conceptual working of the ideas of scientist and historian Peter Galison.
The work is preparation for next year’s Documenta Art Expo in Germany. See a “cine-concert” of the work of Georges Melies on September 18 at 3pm, with a live piano performance by the cinema pioneer’s great-great-grandson and narration by his great-granddaughter.
The Market Theatre, Newtown, from September 16 to 18. Book at Computicket. Tel: 011 832 1641.
? The National Arts Festival annual “return” season is called WITS 969 and we keep having to remind our readers that this is the exact distance, in kilometres, between Johannesburg and Grahamstown, where the festival was on in June.
This year’s festival comprises a trio of theatre productions. Experienced performer and director Gerard Bester presents Flicker, with the popular Andrew Buckland, Craig Morris and Athena Mazarakis at the Wits Downstairs Theatre. In the main theatre, Fred Abrahamse presents an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet originally by Joe Calarco, now titled Shakespeare’s R&J. The play is set in a Catholic boarding school during the 1950s.
Another work is Big Boys Don’t Dance, directed and choreographed by Vanessa Harris and performed by Ash Searle and Bradley Searle. The remaining work, in the Amphitheatre, is a comic look at dance forms.
The Wits Theatre, Jorissen Street, Braamfontein, from September 21 to 30. Full-price tickets cost R70 and student tickets R45 at the door.