This year’s Windybrow Arts Festival tackles inner-city=20 issues in an appeal to the people of Hillbrow. Matthew=20 Krouse reports
T HE logistics of running an annual arts festival that=20 caters for all interest groups in Johannesburg and its=20 immediate surrounds continue to be hotly debated. In=20 planning such events, administrators leave themselves=20 as open to criticism as the arts practitioners whose=20 works they choose to showcase.
A case in point is the Windybrow Arts Festival, which=20 opened this week. This year, the aim seems to have been=20 to find works which could draw Hillbrow’s community=20 closer to this venue, which has always battled to=20 assert itself in its place of residence.
In future, says Ali Hlongwane, Windybrow administrator=20 and festival director, “we will look at what works in=20 Hillbrow clubs, and we will showcase work that is=20 attractive to the community”.
As a start, three of the 30 works to be staged at this=20 year’s festival come from Hillbrow and its neighbouring=20 suburbs. And many more deal with issues of immediate=20 relevance to a city audience — gay life, street=20 people, Aids and abortion. There has also been a shift=20 towards stories about drugs as well as about=20 immigrants, who are often seen as drug dealers.=20 Hlongwane feels that “more needs to be told, but it’s a=20 good beginning. The writers will, I hope, go beyond the=20 stereotypes, since we’ve had nothing about the pains=20 that drive other Africans from their homes.”
The process of selection and development for this=20 year’s festival began late in 1994 when the Windybrow=20 committee started looking for drama, musicals, cabaret=20 and dance. In their process they tried to “keep a=20 balance between the aspiring and the experienced, so=20 that old is challenged by new and young actors and=20 directors”. Actor Owen Sejake, Soyikwa’s Ray Hlongwane=20 and artistic director Walter Chakela provided on-hand=20 artistic supervision to practitioners.
In the abundant programme, highlights are two plays by=20 Zakes Mda — The Dying Screams of the Moon, directed by=20 Sipiwe Khumalo, and We Shall Sing for the Fatherland,=20 directed by Kefuoe Molapo — as well as Xoli Norman’s=20 Mary, Don’t Weep, directed by Sejake.
A visiting gospel choir from the Congo, Quartelor=20 Yimbila, is scheduled to do three performances, and=20 kicked off the festival at the opening this week.
Workshops on theatre-related subjects have also been=20 scheduled. Topics include playmaking through=20 improvisation, to be conducted by Ray Hlongwane, and=20 costume and scenic design.
The variety of topics and groups represented indicates=20 that the Windybrow Arts Festival could well be=20 beginning to provide a much-needed cultural fix for=20 those caught up in inner-city life.
The Windybrow Arts Festival runs until March 25. For a=20 full programme of events telephone 720-7009