Andrew Gilder
A question raised by the recent Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK), and one which has caused some acrimony in the past, is whether the festival is about Afrikaans or Afrikaners. This is important, especially in light of the huge number of black South African Afrikaans speakers who may have felt left out of the festivities.
KKNK chairperson David Piedt maintains that the intention of the festival is to give all Afrikaans speakers the opportunity to experience “hul kultuur” in a dynamic manner. This sentiment is laudable, but does KKNK indeed cater for “all Afrikaans speakers”?
Seasoned KKNK watchers maintain that this year saw more black festival-goers than any of the previous seven events, but perhaps the best measure of the organiser’s success comes from a perusal of the drama programme.
Dramatic productions rely on the scripted word rather than the universal languages of dance and music and so can act as a barometer of what the festival offers to the Afrikaans speaker. While these listings reflected a distinguished, sophisticated and literary notion of Afrikaans drama, only one truly resonated across racial barriers in its presentation of stories from both sides of the divide.
Vatmaar is Janice Honeyman’s stage adaptation of AHM Scholtz’s award wining novel A Place Called Vatmaar is a collage of stories from the Northern Cape village of Vatmaar, established in the aftermath of the Anglo-Boer War, and named for the booty taken by the British from Boer homesteads. The production debuted in March at the Oude Libertas Amphi- theatre and opened last week at the Baxter Theatre. Prior to assuming its place on the KKNK main programme the play was also part of the Voorbrandfees that takes productions to Klein Karoo communities outside of Oudtshoorn.
It is these community hall performances, sans the full benefit of set and lighting, which have brought Honeyman the greatest reward for her efforts in scripting and directing. “The people in those towns reacted to the work with tears or laughter of clear identity and would often interact with the play as it was unfolding.”
By contrast the overwhelmingly white KKNK audiences were more muted in their response during the actual run of the show, but standing ovations were not uncommon. Opening night at the Baxter demonstrated the existence of a black Afrikaans speaking audience something KKNK generally failed to do despite its stated objective.
Vatmaar’s subject matter may be difficult for some white viewers because of the honesty in which race relations are depicted. “The response of main festival-goers was more intellectual than the emotional one of Voorbrandfees audiences”, says Honeyman, “but the motivation behind the work is to encourage people to understand and feel each other’s stories rather than to judge them”.
“Vatmaar is part of an oral tradition in which the truth of the story is more important than manipulation of the words,” she continues. This truth emerges in the unsophisticated nature of Vatmaar’s population. “The play is not politically-correct”, says Honeyman, “political-correctness is often dishonest, whereas Vatmaar is composed of the personal experiences of real people and reverberates with the truth of those stories.” She concludes: “The idea is to tell the tale rather than to provide a comment. Viewers can draw their own conclusions”.
While commending the initiative of the KKNK Voorbrandfees, Honeyman feels that the focus should be on developing awareness in the outlying audiences that the main festival is also for them. “The long term goal must be to get those audiences into Oudtshoorn’s performance venues, and a concerted effort must be made to find sponsors to assist with transporting them to Hooffees productions,” she says. Her ambition is to take Vatmaar to other venues around the country and to keep looking for new South African stories to tell.
The details
Vatmaar runs until April 27 at the Baxter on April 20 and 25 to 27 at 7.30pm. Schools’ performances: April 22 to 25 at 3pm. For enquiries call Niven on (021) 680 3962 or Mzwanele on (021) 680 3991. Book at Computicket or the Baxter