Rhodes Drama production up for Afrikaans Theatre Prize

Rhodes University has become the first English institution to present an Afrikaans production at the Sanlam Prize for Afrikaans Theatre (SPAT) competition. The competition makes prize money of R270 000 per annum available for the development of new theatre productions in Afrikaans. It is open to drama departments at any South African institution for higher education that also undertake Afrikaans productions.

When SANLAM extended an invitation to enter the SPAT competition, Heike Gehring jumped at the chance to involve the Rhodes University Drama Department. Rhodes entered three plays, of which Die Bannelinge by Bauke Snyman was chosen to be in the top four challengers and will premiere at this year’s ABSA Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees from 6 – 10 April .

For the first time since its inception, the 2009 Sanlam Prize for Afrikaans Theatre (SPAT) will be a tussle between four tertiary institutions. Two regular contestants, the universities of Stellenbosch and the Free State, will be challenged by the drama departments of Rhodes University and the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria. The other plays in the final are: Die Wagkamer, by Frans Josias Hamman of Stellenbosch University; Karakters, by Jané Dowd of Tshwane University of Technology; and Spokie Snygans maak sy buiging, by Jeanne Goosen of the University of the Free State.

Rhodes University’s Die Bannelinge is a contemporary South African version of the Oedipus story and deals with issues of heritage and land redistribution. Ani is a modern Antigone that has to do an autopsy on her brother. Family secrets reveal themselves as she tries to come to terms with the curse that is placed upon her and her family. The production is performed by a group of dynamic, talented performers from the Rhodes University – Claudia Coleman- Brown, Ignus Vermaak, Madelé Vermaak, Shaun Acker, Tristan Jacobs and Zanne Solomon

Playwrite Bauke Snyman did his Drama Honours, PGCE and his Postgraduate Diploma in Business Communication at Potchefstroom University. After his studies, he did freelance writing, designing and directing for Industrial theatre, advertising, and corporate companies in Johannesburg.

Snyman started teaching full-time in high schools in 2000 and in the afternoons he worked with young offenders as a drama therapist for the NGO, Restorative Justice Centre (RJC) in Pretoria. In 2004 he was appointed the National Drama Examiner for IEB schools in South Africa. He is currently the Head of Dramatic Arts at the Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) in Grahamstown.

Director Heike Gehring is a lecturer in Speech Communication and Contemporary Performance at the Drama Department of Rhodes University. She has a Masters Degree in Theatre and Performance from the University of Cape Town. As theatre maker, director, teacher and performer, she is mainly concerned with performances that challenge traditionally held notions of gender and cultural identity in a South African context.

She has collaborated with various Grahamstown -based artists and her latest productions include Lady Anne and Vrypas, which was produced by the First Physical Theatre Company and received a Kanna nomination for Best Dance Production. Other productions are for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, performed at the Rhodes Drama Department and the National Schools’ Festival 2005, and Mina Nawe, a theatre production on violence against women, for the Eastern Cape Theatre Company, UBOM!

In November 2004, she was assistant-director to Chris Weare for the production African Star, which was performed at the 10 Years of Freedom Celebrations in Kopenhagen, Denmark and in April 2001 she was co-director with Chris Weare for The Suit, which won the Marta Award at the Setkane Theatre Festival in Brno, Czech Republic. She is also an active performer. Her latest performance was in Chaste by Acty Tang.

Gehring received the Rhodes Women of the Year Award for outstanding achievement in the Dramatic Arts in 2006.

This battle for the SPAT on stage, the sixth of its kind, will take place from 6 to 10 April at the Absa KKNK arts festival at Oudtshoorn where the best play/playwright, actors and directors are crowned. As an additional stimulus the scripts of the winning dramas are published. Lewensreg and Die Begrafnis, the winning scripts of 2007 and 2008, were introduced earlier this year and copies are available from Joho Printers.

Performance Schedules and information:

ABSA KKNK Premiére

Tue | 7 April | 19:00 | Griesselsaal

Thu | 9 April | 15:00 | Griesselsaal

PHOTO CAPTION: Members of the cast for Die Bannelinge – Ignus Vermaak, Madele Vermaak and Tristan Jacobs