The Baxter Theatre
4–15 June (Golden Arrow Studio)
Written and performed by Phillip Dikotla Originally directed by Mpho Molepo

The horrific incident that shook South Africa on 14 January 2008, in the informal settlement called Skierlik, just outside Ventersdorp in the North West, provided the genesis of this play. On that fateful day 17-year-old Johan Nel went on a shooting spree, killing four people, including a three-month-old baby, and wounding eight others. He was sentenced to four life sentences for the murders. The devastating massacre had tragic effects on those who were left behind and on those families who lost their breadwinners.

The story is told through Thomas, husband of the murdered Anna and father of toddler Elizabeth, who takes on the difficult journey of forgiveness and bitterness, anger and hopelessness, change and acceptance, when he returns to the place which he was forced to leave. The story is told through physical theatre and humour, largely in English, but with the inclusion of some Tswana and vernacular.

Skierlik is written and performed by Phillip Dikotla, who received the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) Impact Award for theatre last year. The play beat more than 30 other productions to win the Best Production award at the Baxter’s Zabalaza Festival held in March this year.

MIES JULIE
Restitutions of Body and Soil since The Bantu Land Act No. 27 of 1913 and The Immorality Act No. 5 of 1927
Fresh from its triumphant tours to New York and London, the Baxter Theatre Centre’s runaway hit play Mies Julie returns to South African soil when it comes to the Golden Arrow Studio for two and a half weeks only.

Winner of four Fleur du Cap awards and three top awards at the Edinburgh Festival last year, the production has enjoyed tremendous success internationally, playing to sold-out performances and earning 30 international and local five-star reviews, as well as being rated one of the top 10 shows in New York in 2012 by the New York Times. See the international reviews for this production.

The South African-born and internationally acclaimed director Yael Farber sets her explosive adaptation of Strindberg’s classic Miss Julie in the remote, bleak beauty of the Eastern Cape Karoo.

In a post-apartheid kitchen – a potent convergence point of domination, domestic practicality and untenable sadness – a single night, both brutal and tender, unfolds between a black farm labourer, the daughter of his “master” and the woman who has raised them both. The visceral struggles of contemporary South Africa are laid bare in this domestic setting, as  a deadly battle between John and Mies Julie spirals one night over power, sexuality, memory, mothers and land.

The award-winning Farber’s probing adaptation looks at a post-traumatic society and the knot of inheritances and legacies that entangle lives in the aftermath. Haunting and violent, intimate and epic, the struggles between the three individuals reach to address issues of restitution and the reality of what can and cannot ever be recovered

The Fugard Theatre

FROM 10 JULY 2013 TUE – FRI 8PM | SAT 4 & 8PM | R90 – R230 The Fugard Theatre is proud to announce their 2013 winter musical production – Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show. Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show has travelled the world since making its humble debut performance at the Royal Court, London way back in 1973 and continues to fascinate audiences around the globe and pack out some of the world’s most famous theatres. This saucy, racy musical, which features hits like “Science Fiction/Double Feature”, “Dammit, Janet!”, “Sweet Transvestite” and the infamous “The Time Warp” and “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me” tells the story of a newly engaged couple, Brad and Janet, getting caught in a storm and coming to the home of a mad transvestite scientist unveiling his new creation, a muscle man named Rocky Horror. There they meet some of the strangest creations on the planet. Produced by Eric Abraham and the Fugard Theatre Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show will open at the Fugard Theatre on the 9th July and play for a limited season.

ARTSCAPE CONCERT HALL

SARAH CHANG with Theodor Kuchar and the Cape Philharmonic
SIBELIUS/ MENDELSSOHN/TCHAIKOVSKY
This violin megastar is only one of a small number of professional musicians to be internationally recognised as a ‘child prodigy’. She will perform Sibelius’ demanding Violin Concerto with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Theodore Kuchar. Other exciting works include Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italian, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No 4 Italian and Sibelius’ Finlandia. Presented by the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra in association with Artscape