Q&A: Peet pienaar
Guy Willoughby
Multifaceted artist Peet Pienaar was one of the prime movers behind the edgy, boundary-blurring Nescaf Post Festival of Art, Theatre, Video and Music at the revamped Bijou Theatre in Observatory, Cape Town, last week.
One of your chief aims was to cross art and media divides. Did this happen?
Absolutely. For the first time I felt that art, theatre and public culture, including DJs, really worked together as one event usually one dominates. Here, people really worked together, merging boundaries between art, digital stuff and theatre.
What kind of synergies were thrown up?
In our two plays [Bangalore Torpedo and I Know What You Did Last Summer], the theatre people got interrogated by the art people, thus: “Why are you always overacting? Why can’t you be normal?” The theatre people had to explain themselves or change the artists’ perception of theatre.
How did you feel about the involvement of your sponsors, Nescaf?
The sponsor could’ve got more out of the event if they’d been more involved. Their marketing is a bit old-school; they could have infiltrated the process much more. Marrying sponsorship and art is a learning curve: the sponsor must get into the event as one of the artists. That’s the kind of creative involvement needed. Nescaf were very happy with the event, though, and next year they’ll put more money into the festival.
Were you happy with the crowd that attended this four-day event?
The sort of people who came through were amazing: movers and shakers moviemakers, designers, theatre people. There was quite an underground feeling, because the event didn’t infiltrate the mass media. The synergy generated was what we’d hoped for. There could’ve been more people, but then there aren’t many people supporting theatre here. Do you keep it to the movers and shakers, or broaden it to include more people? I’m not sure.
Your venue, the atmospheric old art-deco bughouse The Bijou, deserves much of the credit.
The venue is quite a risk it’s unfamiliar, it’s a dodgy area, people feel uncomfortable outside of known venues like the Baxter. What worked was the sense that you could go to the theatre tonight and still have an amazing time and come back to see the play on the third night. Or you might come to see the video and find yourself at the play. The building has a cultural centre vibe and that’s good for theatre. We learnt something important about the rooftop: open-air doesn’t work in Cape Town’s climate!
What are your future theatre plans?
A Dutch group called the Odd Engineers will use the whole downstairs space for a performance including all the old movie machinery.
Your theme was “post” after and contemporary history. Will that be the theme next year?
Oh yes. The results, the enthusiasm, proved there’s so much to explore: it’s a part of our experience that’s completely untouched.
The details
Bangalore Torpedo shows at The Bijou, Main Road, Observatory, until December 8. Tel: (021) 426 4159.