Matthew Krouse

Matthew Krouse watches Gerard Bester’s absurd comedy and decides that life isn’t entirely meaningful after all.

National Heritage Month is an appropriate time for Constitution Hill to open its doors to the public, writes Matthew Krouse.

Should we take a moral stance against the way collectors make icons of oppression and cruelty, such as "pass books" and "whites only" apartheid memorabilia, into sought-after items of value? Matthew Krouse speaks to world antiques authority Judith Miller who is in this country for the National Antiques Fair.

Matthew Krouse goes on the Melville Meander and finds a lot more than a three course meal.

The Standard Bank Young Artist Awards honour a generation of practitioners who have grown up, and matured, in the spotlight, writes Matthew Krouse.

Matthew Krouse asks dance doyen Donald Byrd what South Africans should be thinking about American cultural imperialism.

Two love stories on stage in Johannesburg tackle sensitive issues without trying to change the world, writes Matthew Krouse.

The city streets are the launch pad of this year’s Dance Umbrella, writes Matthew Krouse.

The interior world of the dancer arrived on stage at this year’s FNB Dance Umbrella, reports Matthew Krouse.

If the opinion at a recent conference on marketing in the arts is anything to go by, we are in for a honeymoon period of increased corporate backing of the arts, writes Matthew Krouse.

South Africa’s favourite edutainment series returns and is sadder than ever, writes Matthew Krouse.

Baroness Coral von Reefenhausen, arguably South Africa’s reigning drag queen, chats to Matthew Krouse.

Matthew Krouse speaks to François Verster whose documentary about Mbube picked up an Emmy.

If the 2003 edition of the National Arts Festival has been about anything, it has been a grand-scale meditation on the subject of home, writes Matthew Krouse.

By using non-performers and video art, local dance is making inroads into real life. It has something to do with the way contemporary South African choreographers construct their stories, writes Matthew Krouse who attended the New Dance festival this weekend past.

Simm’s new production <i>Fourplay</i> makes some relevant observations about gay South African men across the generations – the younger ones take things for granted while the older understand that freedom of expression is something of a privilege, writes Matthew Krouse.

Dance anthropologist, choreographer and the founder of the <i>Moving into Dance Mophatong</i> project, Sylvia “Magogo” Glasser is something of a human monument in the local dance scene. That’s probably why her students have crowned her “granny”, writes Matthew Krouse.

Local fashion is a sector with great development potential but it’s being hampered by garment piracy. This was the verdict delivered at the end of South African Fashion Week that took place at the Sandton Convention Centre and in Newtown from August 27 to 30, writes Matthew Krouse.

On October 14 John Perlman, über host of SAfm’s breakfast session, dealt with teen suicide in his item <i>The After Eight Debate</i>. It was depressing enough to drive an adult to harsh measures, writes Matthew Krouse.

Choreographers seem determined to break out of the confines of their medium. With each pasing year the FNB Dance Umbrella advertises more and more of its programme away from sanctioned theatre spaces. They are bent on challenging our notions of what makes for urban comfort zones, writes Matthew Krouse.

Craig Freimond is trying to quit smoking. He is buying his cigarettes loose, as if that helps. He can’t take the cold, but we have to sit outside on the balcony of the Wits University theatre nearby the rehearsal room of his new play. It is a toss-up between heat and smoke, appropriate since his first movie is about the downside of addiction. Matthew Krouse speaks to director Craig Freimond.

Gerard Sekoto’s gentle art had its violent moment, writes Matthew Krouse.

In Berne, late last month, South Africa looked tremendously hip as more than 60 local artists took to two theatres in the historic Swiss capital. But the Sharp! Sharp! festival raised a burning issue, writes Matthew Krouse.

Playwright and director Gibson Kente passed away this week, aged 72. Praised for publicly revealing his HIV-positive status, Kente’s last play, <i>The Call</i>, explored the theme of his disease. Matthew Krouse pays tribute.

A new video work holds a microscope to the shifting landscape of the city. Matthew Krouse speaks to artist Ismail Farouk.

French writer Jean-Paul Curnier tells Matthew Krouse about the MariMira concept of recycling discarded items into useful artefacts.

International choreographer Emio Greco tells Matthew Krouse that local dance must free itself from social themes.

Matthew Krouse speaks to architect Imraan Ho-Yee about changing the face of malls in South Africa.

The Encounters documentary film festival highlights the responsibility of filmmakers in troubled times, writes Matthew Krouse.

In his new movie, comedian Leon Schuster goes undercover as a black domestic worker, who goes by the name of Mama Jack. He spoke to Matthew Krouse about playing the full-bodied African beauty.

Irene Stephanou’s heartwarming play about life in a Greek corner café recently opened at the Market Theatre and it seems Greek South Africans are going mainstream. Matthew Krouse wonders why.

Matthew Krouse speaks to Robert Colman about playing 1930s murderess Daisy de Melker, in drag.