Category: Books

A JOYOUS FESTIVAL, THIS YEAR’S KLEIN KAROO NATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL, LIFTED THE SPIRITS

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Another Klein Karoo National Arts Festival has come and gone but what lingers are the artists, their originality, dedication, blood, sweat and tears and delight that they provide in a lopsided world which is difficult to navigate. DIANE DE BEER finds nourishment, inspiration and novelty in the imaginative and ingenious artistry of our creatives:

I have to be honest from the start. Festivals always have a strong emotional impact on me. I am in the fortunate position as an arts journalist to be invited to see as many productions as I can squeeze into the run of an event and at this year’s Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK) there was still a post-Covid frisson with the festival at full strength for a second year.

When a festival goes into full swing, it can be quite daunting and I’m not sure whether I want to be there, but as excellent productions and artists climb into my head, I go into full festival mode where I’m simply thrilled at being overwhelmed by the local arts community.

Being an artist isn’t an easy profession, even if many on the outside feel that they had a choice and simply have to bite the bullet. That they have a choice is arguable and to produce excellence year after year, often with few rewards and never under ideal circumstances, can be daunting and not for the fainthearted.

And yet they go full tilt as they battle extreme circumstances like pandemics or vitriolic social media, all in the name of art.

More than anything, whatever anyone says, we cannot  resist them. For me it is a huge blessing and privilege to witness and write about our uniquely original creatives.

Post-festival, an overview of the festival is always a personal reminder of and reflection on everything extraordinary, yet it’s tough to choose which among all those actors and productions, to highlight. There are simply too many that demand attention and especially this year, the scope was exceptional.

I always feel I want to bring something of the flavour of a particular festival to those who weren’t there. Perhaps one of my favourite pieces might pop up somewhere and a reader might be encouraged to go, or even more ideally, someone who has always thought about festivals but never attended might be encouraged to go.

The enchanted Die Swartmerrie withTheo Witbooi and Chantell Phillipus. Pictures: Ryan Dammert.

I have to start with Karoo Kaarte. It’s one of the dream projects of the KKNK, simply ticks all the boxes and grows more impressive every year since its first inception with special mention of last year’s winning production, Droomkrans Kronieke, which landed with such impact because of its energy and precision. How can you not win when developing the underdeveloped artistic talent of the previously disadvantaged by implementing a programme that empowers those who wish to make it in the arts.

It’s inspiring and this year’s production, Die Swartmerrie, is a site-specific piece set on dilapidated terrain with a set of train tracks, an imagined train, and a rundown platform. Two people, a man and a woman (Theo Witbooi and Chantell Phillipus) are waiting, both traveling but not with the same destination in mind. There is a past, the tracks and possible journey points to a future, but this notion disappears with the wind.

It is breathtakingly beautiful and hauntingly gripping as the two talk and tackle their issues with delicate determination.

Afrikaans is an especially emotive love language and when spoken in the specific Karoo accent, warm and intimate, the sounds are as captivating and meaningful as the actual words being spoken.

I was surprised by this couple alone on stage and also electrified that the team (in this instance Neil Coppen – a facilitator of the whole project with Vaughn Sadie – and Oudtshoorn’s Tiffany Saterdacht) decided to go this route but, of course, this is a company packed with the unexpected, and hopefully it is a production that will become an institution in Oudtshoorn and won’t be limited to the festival. You don’t want to miss out on these performances and such a quality production. They should keep pushing the repeat button and keep it as part of their arsenal.

Karoo Kaarte further packed a punch with itsart exhibitions, as well as walking tours done by young Oudtshoorn inhabitants all participating in turning the town’s current and future narrative into an inclusive one. The community is constantly gaining strength thanks to Coppen and Sadie who have invested their creativity in this wonderful way, all the while bringing their local learners on board.

It’s a marvellous investment in the future of this town (and hopefully others across the country will follow) and fingers crossed that a smart investor will see the potential going forward.

Because we were born in such large numbers, our generation is referred to as the baby boomers (born from 1946 to 1964) and probably that’s why ageing and the lifestyles of those growing older has become part of today’s theatre language. We are also fortunate to have some amazing artists who keep on practising their craft while ignoring any barriers that might come their way.

They know how to choose, break out and try new things and simply keep audiences flocking to their performances. Names like Sandra Prinsloo, Antoinette Kellermann, Jana Cilliers, Elzabe Zietsman, Amanda Strydom not only arrive with new productions, they’re also constantly adding skills to their resumés.

Cilliers took up playwrighting for the first time with Veelhoek, a two-hander with herself and Ludwig Binge directed by Marthinus Basson, and the wisdom and writing were quite overwhelming. Who would have thought that, apart from all her other accomplishments, she would now add writing to the list – and then perform it with such clarity as she tells a story that lies close to the heart?

Zietsman is another one who keeps shifting those barriers and I am so delighted that she has added the magnificent Tony Bentel to accompany her on stage. He is one of those pianists who brings much more than just the music to the performance and it shows. Vier Panado’s en ‘n Chardonnay again has Zietsman expounding on life, singing brilliantly and with heart – and cherishing cabaret as it should be performed. The content, which deals with resilience,needs hardly any acting by this actor. Most of it is probably her life which she has shared heartily and hastily over the years. And she will always rise…

Do we need to say anything more about those two great dames, Sandra Prinsloo and Antoinette Kellermann? How lucky are we to witness them in performance after performance as they just keep surging ahead.

Die stoele with Antoinette Kellermann and Chris van Niekerk. Picture: Hans van der Veen.

Kellermann tackled the Ionescu tour de force Die Stoele, accompanied by a much-too-rare performance by Chris van Niekerk. Marthinus Basson adds genius to the production, which can be seen over and over again as it deals with something we all have to confront ­­– LIFE. The content might be terrifying but to watch, quite hysterical. As always Kellermann is in with everything she’s got and what she does with her body tells a story all its own.

Goed wat wag om te gebeur with an actress I would love to see more of, Emma Kotze and Gideon Lombard.

She’s also a part of the magnificent cast (Kellermann, Emma Kotze and Gideon Lombard) of Philip Rademeyer’s Goed Wat Wag Om te Gebeur. I had seen the English version most recently but also this one a few times, and this latest run proved how good theatre improves with time. It’s the best the production has been and I know the director agrees.

Prinsloo brought her masterful Master Class, a piece of classical theatre, to the festival and, also as is her nature, she teamed up with the exceptional David Viviers in a Teksmark original Op die hoek van Styx en River is Nora per Abuis met die Dood Oorgeslaan (playwright Henque Heymans). It’s a novel work which showed flickers of what it could be in time (always a scarce commodity).

Like Rademeyer’s Goed Wat Wag Om te Gebeur, Monsters, (produced, directed, adapted and translated by Tinarie van Wyk Loots) which has had runs at other festivals previously, found a remarkable rhythm that lifted the text and the performers into another realm . It was rewarding to experience and again I was reminded what a precious entity the different circuits are because single theatres cannot afford to take many risks and festivals add an extra buffer in this precarious world – to the benefit of arts audiences.

Michele Burgers in Monsters. Picture Stephanie M Gericke.

We haven’t seen much of the versatile Michele Burgers, who will hopefully return to stage more often in the future and who was beautifully supported by the talented René Cloete, Ntlanhla Kutu and Elton Landrew.

Die Vegetariër with Tinarie van Wyk Loots and Melissa Myburgh who as young actress has shown her mettle magnificently . Picture: Nardus Engelbrecht

Smartly directed by yet another multi-talented artist, Tinarie van Wyk Loots, she also featured in Jaco Bouwer’s hard-hitting Die Vegetariër (adapted and translated by Willem Anker) which also benefited from another run, as well as in the latest probing Anker text, Patmos, also brilliantly staged and directed by Jaco Bouwer, who always challenges and pushes boundaries with his choice of productions, casts and presentation.

The visually captivating Patmos with Melvyn Minnaar and Tinarie van Wyk Loots. Picturess Hans van der Veen.

Without these art warriors our art landscape would be barren. They keep us returning to theatres time and again with their unique approach, their determination to do their best under trying circumstances, including a lack of time and money, and simply their excellence.

Nataniël, for example, returned from an extensive tour to New Zealand and Australia during the festival yet put together one of his distinctive shows with flamboyant costumes, mind-blowing text and two musicians (Marcel Dednam on Piano and Leon Gropp on guitar) who created a spectacular rhythm to underpin his songs and singing quite magnificently.

I could go on forever, there were simply too many highlights, yet I cannot go without honourable mentions of the following, no less important than those already mentioned:

Jefferson J. Dirks-Korkee in a return of the soul-stretching Rooilug.
Fietsry vir dommies. Picture: Gys Loubser
Hallo, is Bettie wat praat with Dean John Smith.
Marianne Thamm

Solo shows: the return of Rooilug with the delightful Jefferson J. Dirks-Korkee; Fietsry vir Dommies (masterful text by Tiffany Saterdacht and deftly directed by Dean Balie) which showcased the enormous talent of Eldon van der Merwe, who was also rewarded with a Kunste Onbeperk prize for Young Voice. Dean John Smit shone in his now full-length solo production of Hallo, is Bettie wat Praat; the craftily current My Fellow South Africans by Mike van Graan, starring the physically and mentally dextrous Kim Blanché Adonis; Vuisvoos, maar nog regop, where journalist Marianne Thamm delivers a gloves-off and much needed monologue, incisive if laugh-out-loud, on the state of the nation; a shout-out to much missed director, Jenine Collocott, who teamed with actor Klara van Wyk to present the hysterical Monika, it’s me:

The mesmerising ‘n Lewe in die dag van ‘n vrugtevlieg ensomeer with David Viviers and Wessel Pretorius. Picture: Hans van der Veen
The Old Man Who Thought He Had a Dog with Merwe van Gent and Angelique Filter.

Double-up: David Viviers and Wessel Pretorius returned as a popular duo in a follow-up to their successful Klara Maas with ‘n Lewe in die die dag van ‘n vrugtevlieg, ensomeer and hopefully many more encores in the future, they were missed; an innovative new duo, Stellenbosch students Angelique Filter and Merwe van Gent, soared with the tragicomedy The Old Man who thought He had a Dog;

The delightfully funny Marc Lottering.
KG Mokgadi- Weighing In.

Stand-up (not my speciality) yet: Who can resist the always energetic and enthusiastic funny man Marc Lottering who always delivers?; as well as my comic standout of the festival, KG Mokgadi. It feels as if these two have something more to say than just one-liners.

Ken Jy Vir Dewie with , Joshwin Dyson, Crystal Donna Roberts and Robert Hindley

Productions: The original Ken Jy Vir Dewie was cleverly staged with themes that target the whole family and as the play was dealing with bullying, the setting for everyone, actors and audience alike, was a classroom; and again, it was directed by yet another versatile artist, Margit Meyer-Rödenbeck, who has exchanged Dowwe Dolla for Ouma, again a sign of the times. She cleverly started the play outside with audience and cast waiting to enter the classroom!;

The joyous Braam en die engel with Rehane Abrahams, De Klerk Oelofse and Timothy Isaacs. Picture Hans van der Veen

And Craig Morris grabs the attention in Die Rooi Ballon.

Children’s Theatre: It’s not something I usually see at festivals but, as I did, I was encouraged by the effort made by the KKNK to look after these tiny tots who are of our more enthusiastic audiences: My favourites included Braam en die Engel and Rooi Boeties.Watch out for them as they might travel.

Dance: is back with brilliance because of the clever choice of productions, only two of them but with some of the most innovative names in contemporary dance: Dada Masilo who choreographed one of three pieces, Salomé, for Joburg Ballet; and Grant van Ster and Shaun Oelf  with the Figure of 8 Dance Collective (pictured), who brought in other creatives like Nico Scheepers on text, Andi Colombo on lights and Franco Prinsloo on original music. Both companies were sublime.

Lucky Pakkie (Packet): Thanks to the brilliant team of Llandi Beeslaar and Stephanie Gericke, this is another of the KKNK delights because of their dedication and hands-on approach. It needs that because what you have is three lucky packets of four 15-minute productions each; the three sections embrace easy viewing to soft touch to pushing the envelope as much as possible, and artists who cannot manage a full production or perhaps just want to say what they need to say in this time and on this platform are vetted and included in a fun-filled programme.

The original Karli Heine. Picture by Stephanie M Gericke

There are too many to name, but for starters … what about Karli Heine, who turned herself into a pot plant and blew my mind … for script, performance and imagination!

It is impossible to cover everything and I haven’t given the art exhibitions a mention, even though curator Dineke Orton again broke down barriers and took us on a visual trip. But these are just some of my thoughts on a festival that felt like one joyous merry-go-round. Try and catch some of these through the year as they travel to different theatres and festivals.

Here’s holding thumbs!

And finally, on the last day, even the weather seemed out of sorts…

FOR THE LOVE OF BOOKS, READING AND AUTHORS

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With Vrye Weekblad and journalist Deborah Steinmair establishing new book festivals in the wake of their success in Stilbaai, followed by the first one in Gauteng in Cullinan earlier this year and most recently in Clarens in the Free State, DIANE DE BEER, invited as an interviewer at the last two, gives her impressions of book festivals in general as VWB announce their next Cullinan festival from 10 to 12 May 2024::

Pictures: Deborah Steinmair

A man and his dog cartoons by Dries de Beer (Fatman).

Getting together a crowd of book lovers is no easy thing in these days of social media and streaming  –  there’s just too much on offer  – but if you choose your specific book festival well, take the time and spend the money, it is a glorious get-away where you get to mingle and meet like-minded people and listen to a handful of authors talking about their latest work.

While my preferences won’t sound objective, as I was invited to participate as an interviewer at the last two festivals, what appealed to my sensibility was the curation of the festivals.

In conversation with two illustrators, Hanli Deysel, myself and Angela Tuck

First off, smart of the powers-that-be at Vrye Weekblad to know that Deborah, someone with a fantastic knowledge of books, an author herself, and a brilliant columnist, also has a deliciously quirky sensibility which then becomes part of the programme.

If you’re having a festival in the Free State, Antjie Krog is a name that would be impossible to ignore. But then to ask her to read from her latest delightful Vetplant Feëtjies (Vetplant Fairies), creatively written and illustrated, together with some poetry from her latest collection Plunder (also translated and published as Pillage) was genius.

It’s obvious why she won the Herzog Prize for poetry twice, most recently in 2017.

Just selecting at random:

It no longer comes to me

Everything is iron    everything has congealed

I read how others write:

Clove brown, Prussia blue, and creamy, creamy your neck

Your long, long, long legs fill me with fury

But to me?

To me it simply no longer comes

once I belonged to the ones on fire

now my voice wants to drift

it trembles repulsively clammy with care and forgiveness

For me, personally, she should never stop, with a mind that’s razor-sharp, older yes, but that also makes it even more wise and witty. What does she have in mind next?

And, cleverly, Deborah knew how to pair two wise journalists. It was a great idea to get two Free State born journalists/writers Max du Preez and Antjie Krog talking and reminiscing.

Max du Preez and Antjie Krog in conversation.

Both grew up in Kroonstad and Antjie spent more of her time there, while Max talks about missing this part of the world, while also celebrating his home city of Cape Town, where he says everything works.

And then he launches into a few famous authors who have left the country, some, he says, with a Nobel Prize under the arm …

And Antjie wonders about living in a country where no one knows who Gerrit Maritz is.

Max, who had passed through Winburg on his way to Clarens, wishes to become the champion of this neglected town.

But Cyril, they say, has said that the people shouldn’t be treated like charity cases. Everyone has something to give. Yet Max laments the process of Africa that is slowly engulfing the town, even if not quite done yet.

Antjie suggests that if you want to change or fix a problem, you have to bring the township with you. But Max questions how to criticise this country while contemplating the damage you might have caused. Even if you joined the struggle. You still have the privilege of whiteness which is something everyone needs to acknowledge.

As is obvious, it was a conversation between two people who know one another, who have similar backgrounds so that they can exchange thoughts and grievances without too much explanation.

And they progress…

“Wonderful things are happening in Afrikaans,” says Antje while sympathising with the Indigenous languages that suffered under apartheid.

We all have to acknowledge that we had more of everything: more Afrikaans radio stations and TV stations, more magazines and newspapers than any of the other languages. Now we have to do it for ourselves.

Joylyn Philips

And it is happening with Vrye Weekblad and these kinds of book festivals. And again Deborah’s special touch emerges as she includes young poets and authors like Joylyn Philips, who launches into song when starting her poetry presentation.

Bibi SlIppers

Or the bright-eyed Bibi Slippers who cunningly whets the appetite with readings from her then soon-to-be-published poetry book, which was recently launched.

Dianne Du Toit Albertze
In performance.

Yet, no one can rattle the rafters like the gloriously fragile Dianne Du Toit Albertze or, as they would say, Lady D. It was joyous to see them perform almost randomly dressed to kill in a shattering red dress which immediately screamed attitude, and then to back it all up with the talent of someone who knows they can take a stage while speaking in tongues … and they do.

This fresh breath of youthful exuberance during the gathering of the poets as the final salute of the weekend, captured it all. The dazzle and dare of Deborah is what makes you an ardent fan of her outspoken columns, all of which you wish you had said. And she brings that same flair and fanciful fanfare to a book festival  –  which is why these Vrye Weekblad festivals are worth watching out for. And a grand addition to the Afrikaans literary scene.

Yes, I know it’s mostly in Afrikaans, but Deborah knows about diversity even when limited most of the time, to a specific audience.  

So get booking on Quicket for the next one, you won’t be disappointed and it’s in driving distance from Pretoria and Joburg!        

Last year’s festival at the stone church in Cullinan.

PROGRAMME: The Vrye Weekblad-CULLINAN-BOOK FESTIVAL 10 – 12 May 2024

Will be held @Church venue. Books to be sold by Graffiti on the premises, food and drink will be on sale. Book at Quicket.

Queries: deborah.steinmair@gmail.com

Friday 10 May:

17:30: En tog die deuntjie draal (and still the music plays): Gielie Hoffmann chats on the birthday of singer/songwriter/poet Koos du Plessis with his wife, Mornay, about Erfdeel. His songs are also performed.

Saterday:

08:30: Skarminkels en speurders (Rogues and detectives): Phyllis Green speaks to Sidney Girlroy, Marie Lotz and Irna van Zyl.

09:30: Van rekenaarskerm na silwerskerm (From the computer screen to the movie screen : Mercy Kannemeyer chats to Zelda Bezuidenhout and Henriëtta Greyffenberg about the filming of Die dekonstruksie van Retta Blom.

10:30 The Near North: Louis Gaigher chats to Ivan Vladisivic about his latest book.

11:30: O, die vrolike, O die SALA! (Oh the happiness, oh the Salvation) Diane de Beer in conversation with Onke Mazibuko about his celebrated YA novel, The Second Verse.

12:30 Lunch

14:00: Vaders wat haper (Fathers who stutter): Jean Meiring chats to S.J. Naudé about Van vaders en vlugtelinge

15:00: Vywervrou woeker: (Pond woman works): Ilse Salzwedel chats to Chanette Paul about her character driven series.

16:00: Zonderwater en ver van die huis: (Zonderwater and far from home): Deborah Steinmair talks to Karen Horn about her novel about Italian prisoners of war: Prisoners of Jan Smuts

17:00: Psigopatiese nasie: (Psychopathic nation): Anneliese Burgess speaks to Karl Kemp about his book Why We Kill.

18:00: Kopstukke (Think pieces): A sizzling political debate about the election and other topics of the day with Piet Croucamp and JP Landman.

Sunday

10:00: Boekevat: (Devotions): Kleinboer, Lucinda Neethling and Pieter Odendaal read and sing their poetry in the beautiful stone church.

AUTHOR JUSTIN FOX IS A NOMAD WHO CONCEDES THE TRAVELING BUG IS WHAT DRIVES HIM IN LIFE

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Author Justin Fox, as DIANE DE BEER discovers when speaking to him about his latest book, Place South African Literary Journey (published by UMUZI) at Garsfontein’s Boekeplek & Kuierplek, has a mind as restless as his wanderlust:

The cover is a painting by Erik Laubscher titled Overberg Landscape.

When you are sent a book and asked by a publisher to help with the launch in your city, your first instinct, especially if you don’t know the author, which I didn’t in this instance, is to hope that you won’t hate the writing or the book for that matter.

Up to now, I have been blessed and again, Justin Fox’s Place is one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved the writing, found it a wonderfully original concept and the reading very accessible.

What this author did was to select nine authors whose writing he found to be determined by a specific landscape or place, capturing the spirit, hence the name and the idea. Think, for example, of  someone like Herman Charles Bosman and your mind automatically reaches for the Marico or Dalene Matthee’s passionate love affair so inextricably linked with the Knysna forest.

Zakes Mda with his Heart of Redness is nestled on the Wild Coast, JM Coetzee has Michael K traveling and hiding in the Moordenaars Karoo and Olive Schreiner’s Story of an African Farm has its footprint in the Eastern Karoo.

The Lowveld is Jock of the Bushveld’s stomping ground, Deneys Reitz’s adventures, Justin narrowed down to the invasion of the Cape with Eugene Marais finding solace with his baboons in Waterberg.

The only one I wasn’t familiar with and the author with whom Justin perhaps identified with most strongly is Stephen Watson, who had a strong affinity with the Cederberg.

Wondering if he had qualms about not having the perfect representation, he admitted it was something he thought about, and he did try.  He had to rely on authors who had a special affinity with a particular landscape or region, which was reflected in their writing.

With this mix, he also spread the love throughout the country geographically and in the end, that’s what determined his choice.

When first reading the book and seeing that it was In Memoriam of Uys Krige, I wondered whether he was related to actress Grethe Fox, whom I have encountered in my theatre writing. And of course, she is his sister and joins him (as he writes) on one of his author adventures.

They are indeed a family truly invested in the arts. Justin’s father is the architect Revel Fox and his mother is Uys Krige’s sister, then there’s also a filmmaker … and the list goes on. And then he divulges the family secret. His grandmother Sannie Uys was determined to guide everyone in the family into the arts.

In fact, she felt this so strongly that  it was highly frowned upon if someone decided to turn to medicine or law, for example! Especially in terms of for the richness of the arts, wouldn’t this country flourish if there were more of these kinds of grandmothers? Anyone linked to the arts in even a minor way will know how a life is enriched.

The Geelbek Blockhouse also features in the book.

The wealth of artists in one family when taking a peek at their family tree starts to make sense. That and Justin’s particular bent and imaginative mind. There’s not much he hasn’t tried in the artistic sphere of witing. He is listed as a travel writer, novelist, poet and photographer and, as the former editor of Getaway magazine, he could easily include most of his passions in his daily life. And now, having left them, it’s easy to see how he keeps doing what he does – writing mostly books.

For Place, for example, he travelled to all the places of his chosen authors so that he could not only write from his research on the authors but also experience the place for himself. And that’s what makes this such an intriguing read. It’s as though he has aimed his skills sharply for this endeavour – and it serves him and his reader well.

Even someone like Dalene Matthee’s favoured region (which is close to where I spent my youth) came with new insight from this reading. And probably much of this can be linked to the fact that Justin has “itchy feet”, but also that the research is what really inspires him. It is what he enjoys most and what obviously informs and enriches his writing.

Having travelled the length and breadth of Africa during his former life as a journalist also brings much knowledge to bear. And then probably his writing was further nourished and polished by his doctorate in English at Oxford as well as his time as a research fellow at the University of Cape Town.  But don’t expect to find a bookish approach to his storytelling or his writing. The way he uses language is one of the joys of the reading experience.

His latest endeavour or, perhaps more accurately, the one he is hoping will receive more attention is the two books already finished and hopefully a handful to come of his fictional World War 2 novels with Jack Pembroke as the hero. Justin describes himself as a Jack of all trades, but that’s underselling his expertise.

He ascribes his writing in so many different genres (google his writing history) as “getting bored quickly”. His favourite author is Patrick O’Brian whom he describes amusingly as “Jane Austen at sea”, as well as crime stories, and then of course he loves reading anything about World War 2, hence the fictional series in which he focusses on adventures from the war, unfamiliar to many. The current one with a South African focus is a battle that has been forgotten by many.

His next focus is African islands which he hopes will have the same impact as Place, which has already sold out.

The Fox Family (Justin left) on a Greek sojourn, one of his earliest travels.

“I’m a nomad,” he says, and he concedes he has the bug worse than most.  And while writing per se is not his happy place, the research, edit and travel to promote his latest invention all find favour. And that’s where his drive comes from and his determination to escape into another adventure – whether fiction or non-fiction. I’m crossing fingers that the current book, Place, will be so popular that the publishers consider a colour version richly illustrated with Justin’s photographs. That was the only missing element for me. His writing takes you to the places he describes so imaginatively and there are a handful of black and white pictures. I realise it was an issue of cost, but still …

SYLVAINE STRIKE’S INSIGHTFUL PLAY WITH DAMON GALGUT’S BOOKER PRIZE WINNER THE PROMISE

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Time was the rare gift that celebrated director Sylvaine Strike was given with her latest production, The Promise, written and adapted (from his novel) by author Damon Galgut. She tells DIANE DE BEER more about the extraordinary process which started more than 18 months ago and is on at The Market (until November 5) following its recent Cape Town run:

“In a way, The Promise selected me,” she explains, because Damon approached her to adapt it for the stage, thinking that she would probably be the right fit because he had foreseen that it would have to be done very theatrically and very physically if it were to have a theatrical life at all.

She was utterly smitten by the idea, but insisted that Damon adapt it alongside her because she was reluctant to tinker with his text. “I needed him to travel the road and structure it in a way that he would feel could live as theatrical version.” She had read the novel twice even before he contacted her and was delighted.

The Promise cast with author Damon Galgut (left) and director Sylvaine Strike (right), photographer: Martin Kluge

When it came to casting, it began with finding the right person to set the bar from a physical perspective and she knew from the outset when reading The Promise and imagining who her Anton could be, that it was Rob van Vuuren.

Gifted this opportunity of a role that is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Rob was thrilled just to delve into this exquisite character and the very many facets of it. Sylvaine knew he would be the one who she would work off in finding the rest of the family, which includes Frank Opperman as Anton’s father, an Afrikaans patriarch, Kate Normington as his mother, jenny Stead as Astrid, his middle sister, and the young Jane de Wet as Amor

“The pivotal and most important character of Salome is played by Chuma Sepotela, who holds this exquisite part in two dimensions in the sense that she’s also the narrator of the piece, as Chuma herself, who plays the story conjuror.”

Sandu Shando plays Lukas, Salome’s son, and “the amazing Albert Pretorius and Cintaine Schutte, both adding deep dimension, comedy and pathos in the roles of Tannie Marina and Okkie as well as the many characters they portray,” she concludes.

In total it’s a cast of 9 and, before anything else, they did a workshop with Sylvaine to discover the physical language as the blueprint to the play.

In rehearsals: the cast and director Sylvaine Strike.

With both the director and writer growing up in Pretoria, their coming together was almost written in the stars. “I think growing up in Pretoria and being aware of the glaring chasm between the haves and the have nots, the ability for Pretoria to ride that knife edge between ignoring the political reality, the lies that have been woven to its children, the incredible duality between darkness and light, tragedy and comedy that this book engages with and its calling out for us to face the shame for how we lived,” all of that made the book irresistible.

“There’s no escape but to look it in the eye, which is what this was and showing what it felt like for me. The novel forced me to do it as it named everything I was feeling growing up there as a child and being a teenager there and sensing that something was so terribly wrong with it.

The full cast on stage. Photographer: Claude Barnardo.

“Four decades of Pretoria so distinctly captured, I rose to the challenge of telling the story on stage because I wanted to reach people with it and make them feel what it felt like for me to read it and everything it made me feel to confront our whiteness in its brutal hideousness and its complexity and own it.”

Once the decision was made, she and Damon sat for two solid weeks unpacking the novel. At first he really battled with seeing how it could be put on stage. Sylvaine thinks that in his mind the locations were so specific that it took some time for them to understand the kind of language it would need in order to tell the story.

“We both agreed that the very fluid narrative that Damon captures and writes in, a narrative that changes perspective all the time, changes its mind all the time, needed to come from a chorus almost in the Greek tragedy sense, to comment on the action, to speak to the hero or the anti-hero, to contain their thoughts, and to move swiftly through the action alongside it.”

Scenes on stage. (Pictures: Claude Barnardo)

Neither the reader nor the writer could hold on to all their darlings. They knew they had to lose certain bits of the novel, cutting and culling, choosing only the very essential parts of the story, and look at compressing it into a time frame that would suit theatre, so much more condensed than in a book.

 They also needed to find a theatrical language and a physical language that was able to edit between time and place very swiftly, where actors could age from one decade to the next simply by using their bodies. Damon then proceeded to write five drafts which incorporated this language and refined it more and more and more.

In between the first and second draft they had a workshop which Damon attended in which she worked with her cast and at which Charl-Johan Lingenfelder (music/soundscape) and Joshua Lindberg (set and lighting design ) as well as Penny Simpson (costumes) were present. “It was a collaborate effort to reach a place  where script was done and created,” she explains.

Wearing her heart on her sleeve, director Sylvaine Strike.

Photographer: Martin Kluge

In conclusion, after all the hard work, the introspection, a fantastic cast, long hours and hard work, she hopes audiences take a good hard look  at our country  –  and a soft look as well. “And by that I mean allowing us to enter its deep humanity and inhumanity, looking into a mirror, admitting our own whiteness, hearing it, not making excuses for it,  not trying to explain it, but most of all really looking at the relationship we have as South Africans with each other.

“There’s also the microcosm of a family and its domestic worker Salome, which is a microcosm for  the dynamics within our country, the difficulties, the obstacles, the promises made and broken, the lack of care we have for one another, the care in some aspects, about our country looking at itself, not being spoken down to, but simply observing itself, taking a step back to see more clearly, not back in time, just to get more focus on where we’re at.

“And what I love about The Promise is that it doesn’t offer any solutions, just gives us a glimpse of what we have done and what we have become over the last four decades of our country’s democracy.”

A CELEBRATORY MOMENTUM BELEGGINGS AARDKLOP RETURNS WITH A SPARKLING SMORGASBORD OF EXCELLENT THEATRE

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It’s the time of festivals with Aardklop opening with a celebration of jacaranda showers and shows from October 3 until 8. DIANE DE BEER points to a few of her favourites:

When I look at festivals, what they have to offer, I always go to theatre first. It’s my passion, people who tell stories.  Fortunately, I know that stories are an integral part of the arts and are told in different ways. That’s what makes a festival such a delight.

Die Moeder with Sandra Prinsloo and Dawid Minnaar. Picture: Emma Wiehman.

But let’s start with theatre. If you haven’t seen Sandra Prinsloo’s Die Moeder yet or even if you have, see it again. It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime performances even if she has had many of those. It’s a story of a woman ageing who has lost her heart and her soul as she feels discarded and left out of the dance of life.

That might sound horrific, but the text and the ensemble cast, including the magnificent Dawid Minnaar, Ludwig Binge and Ashley de Lange with exciting directing by Christiaan Olwagen, present huge rewards.

Bettie Kemp and Dawid Minnaar in Mirakel.

On a lighter note, Marthinus Basson, a Reza de Wet genius, presents probably her funniest play, titled Mirakel. With another fantastic cast, including Rolanda Marais, Carla Smith, Dawid Minnaar, Edwin van der Walt, Bettie Kemp and Ebin Genis, it takes us back in time when theatre was presented by traveling companies, which went from town to town, region to region.

That already puts a smile on my face, and when you get this almost ragtag band of actors together, trying to save their lives by enhancing their livelihood with all the drama of the time and the company, it’s a scream. Just seeing Minnaar, who we are used to seeing on stage in serious mode, is a delight as he lights up the room with his angst and artistic temperament.

Braam en die Engel with Joannie Combrink, de Klerk Oelofse, Rehane Abrahams and Shaun Oelf, directed by Nico Scheepers, has all the elements for something quite enchanting. Add to that Kanya Viljoen who adapted the text from a YA book with the eponymous title, Grant van Ster as choreographer, Franco Prinsloo as composer and Scheepers and Nell van der Merwe on props and puppets as well as set, costume and lighting design, it’s a no-brainer.

Described as a magic realism experience for the whole family, this sounds worth driving for and not to be missed. I don’t even know the book although the title does the trick, but the artists involved get my backing all the way.

Geon Nel in Hoerkind. Picture: Gys Loubser.

Also based on a book, Hoerkind, written by Herman Lategan and adapted by Francois Toerien, tells the writer’s own story about a life in tatters when as a six-year-old he is sent to an orphanage. His stepfather shoots at him, at 13 he is stalked by a paedophile, and he turns to drink and drugs to stay sane, this solo production is directed by Margit Meyer-Rödenbeck, with Geon Nel in the title role.

The young boy’s missteps are many as he tries to survive. It’s a hair-raising story of loss and triumph in a world that is feels as if it is against him as he valiantly fights to survive.

Goed wat wag om te gebeur. Picture: Nardus Engelbrecht

Another debut production, Goed Wat Wag Om te Gebeur, has impeccable credentials with a cast featuring Antoinette Kellerman, Gideon Lombard and Emma Kotze with Philip Rademeyer as playwright and director (reworked in Afrikaans from The Graveyard).

Hendrik returns home after 15 years but, because the house is deserted, he decides to wait in the cellar where he spent his childhood years. It is empty, but the family’s secrets and history thicken the air and form part of the foundation of the house. Three figures keep appearing – his hardened sister, his petite mother and his lively girlfriend … and secrets and lies come to the surface.

Droomwerk. Picture: Lise Kuhn.

Droomwerk spotlights Jill Levenberg, Ben Albertyn, Johann Nel, Tyrish Mili and Johann Vermaak, directed by Kanya Viljoen and Lwanda Sindaphi. It unfolds as a dream as the title suggests. Petrus is the one who dreams about his family’s complex past: his ancestral mother, Diana of Madagascar, is looking for her daughter; and his grandfather, an apartheid senator, is dying.

The play deals with conflict, alienation and disillusionment. Will Petrus find the answers that bring him peace? Written by Pieter Odendaal, the text has already garnered an award for the best drama by the ATKV Woordveertjies.

Cindy Swanepoel and Zak Henrdrikz star in Henrietta Gryffenberg’s text 1 (Een) – described as a tragicomedy about love. Directed by Alby Michaels with choreography by Craig Morris and original music by Coenraad Rall (Amanda Strydom’s accompanist), it’s all about once upon a time … there were two people so fond of one another that they grew,the one into the other.

With too much togetherness, the two eventually decide it’s time to separate … but which one will survive this miraculous ordeal?

This tongue-in-cheek production looks with a slight jaundiced eye at the ancient themes of love and transience while placing it in an absurd context. Are human beings likely to find their perfect partner or are the chances just endlessly slim?

It’s a challenging piece, which should translate perfectly on stage with hopefully much laughter at the fallibility of man.

Two strong solo productions include Marion Holm, a seasoned actress who works wonderfully with words and life as she experiences it. She has her own style, a way of sharing her stories that are hysterical and sometimes quite harrowing but everything is done with such hilarity, it’s laughter from beginning to end.

On a dramatic note, Je-ani Swiegers stars in Die Vrou Op Die Dak, which tells the story of a woman who flees to the roof of her house where she hopes to find the answers to a life that has suddenly become impossible. Everything she thought she knew is disintegrating and she hopes this fresh perspective might bring fresh insights.

And don’t miss out on the latest offerings from the grand dames of cabaret, Elzabé Zietsman(with Tony Bentel in the perfectly pitched Femme is Fatale) and Amanda Strydom (Amber/Ombré). Their staying power is unique as they keep refining their artistry.

It’s a lucky packet of plays with a selection of everything one could possibly wish for when going to a festival.

And then there’s more and many different entertainment options waiting to be discovered at https://aardklop.co.za/program-2023/

Also to follow, is Nataniël’s Aardklop production as well as the rest of his surprise packages.

THE MESMERISING WONDROUS LIFE OF PI

~ debeernecessities

Review by DIANE DE BEER:

It all happens on stage with all the bells and whistles . Credit: Johan Persson

LIFE OF PI BY YAN MARTEL ADAPTED BY LOLITA CHAKRABARTI

Director: Max Webster

Cast: Hiran Abeysekera and the magnificent puppets

Set and Costume Designer: Tom Hatley

Puppet and Movement Director: Finn Caldwell

Puppetry Designers: Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell

Lighting Designer: Tim Lutkin

Sound Design: Carolyn Downing

Composer: Andrew T Mackay

Scheduled screenings on 27 August at 2.30, and on 30 and 31 August at 5.30, but check your area for loadshedding, when screening times might change.

Halfway through the filmed version of this spectacular West End play, the director, designer and writer (who adapted the book) have a short chat about the play and how it all began. For the writer it was about the story, finding all the important bits and pulling them together for the stage version. For the director, it was about what could work on stage and how to do it. And for the designer it all began with the Richard Parker, the tiger.

Life of Pi imagined in spectacular style. Credit: Johan Persson

Anyone who has read the book and now sees the filmed play will know that this is where the struggle on every level is centred and, once they got that right, it was all systems go. And that’s no small thing. I counted seven puppeteers just for the tiger. It’s simply spectacular – the design, the puppets, the lighting, the video and the sound. That’s why I listed all the names in the credits. It’s a production with all the bells and whistles and yet it holds the heart of the story with the performances by Abeysekera and the animals that come to life.

Seven puppeteers are listed in the credits just for the tiger. Credit: Johan Persson

It’s clear that imagination was the key requirement for this fantastic book, which tells the story of a 16-year-old boy named Pi who is stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Royal Bengal tiger.

We know he has made it because he is telling the story to two scientific types, the one sympathetic, the other a sceptic.

Hiran Abeysekera as Pi with one of his companions, a zebra. Credit: Johan Persson

But the wizardry of the play is all achieved by the magical approach and manner of telling and showing the marvellous Mantel story with no missteps. And although just the set is enough as it moves and rises and changes form to overwhelm the story, everything holds together in the way it should with Pi and his animal friends taking centre stage.

The experience is mesmerising and the two and a half hours flies by as Pi cajoles and cunningly sweet talks and outsmarts his sometimes ferocious and reluctant companions. It’s a kind of Alice-in- Wonderland adventure yet perhaps with a touch more reality than wonder, even if that is always present.

The determination of Pi to achieve his destiny draws you into both his pain and pleasure and this journey, keeping in mind that is after all a stage play, is all about the overwhelming power of theatre when done this magnificently.

Pi in conversation with Richard Parker, the tiger. Credit: Johan Persson

I have to admit, I think Pi and his friend Richard Parker and their struggle for survival have everything to do with it!

The NT Live experience is an expensive exercise but you are seeing some of the best theatre experiences the world has to offer. If that’s your gig, don’t think twice.

Bookings at Ster Kinekor: Rosebank Nouveau in Johannesburg, Ster-Kinekor Brooklyn in Pretoria, Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront in Cape Town and Ster-Kinekor Gateway in Umhlanga.

AUTHOR/ACTRESS WILLEMIEN DU PREEZ TURNS A DEVASTATING FOLLY, A DREAM DASHED, INTO YET ANOTHER CREATIVE ENDEAVOUR

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Most of us have dreams that we hope will become reality one day, but sometimes life happens and we don’t get round to it. Willemien du Preez and her husband, whom she refers to as Liefie, decided on what many might suggest was the spur of a moment, to buy what they believed would be their dream farm. DIANE DE BEER speaks to the author about her book Plaas se Prys (Price of a Farm) (Protea Boekhuis):

He left a perfectly good job with all the richly earned rewards still waiting in the future and she waved goodbye to city life and everything familiar to her.

The Du Preez couple had been to visit the area far fom their current home in Gauteng, much closer to Cape Town, had lost their hearts almost at first sight and here they were, taking the first steps into what they hoped would be their dream life.

Willemien’s book is about this period in her life (if you don’t read Afrikaans, hold thumbs for a translation) in which she captures the adventures of two city slickers hoping to transform overnight into their version of Karen Blixen’s “I had a farm in Africa…”.

It all began when Willemien was battling the loss of an almost three-year-long project that had demanded blood, sweat and tears, but just didn’t work out. She longed for something peaceful, something beautiful and a respite – and to add to her dilemma, her husband was also battle-weary and simply dead tired.

With hindsight, this self-made adventure felt fantastical from the start. She describes it as two desperate individuals fleeing from their reality. “The mountains and a different lifestyle were appealing.”

A the time they didn’t regard this madcap move as such. Their children were adults, they had some money in the bank and Gauteng’s crime statistics were unnerving. “My husband always wanted to farm like his grandfather before him, and I wanted to live like my grandfather and grandmother, off the land.”

“We were still young enough to start over,” she explains, “probably a misguided romance with nature.”

The day they bought the farm was perfect. As Willemien describes it, they were overwhelmed by the spectacle of what they hoped to purchase – and then inhabit. “The fields, the mountains, the sky, the light, everything seemed to conspire.”

For the Du Preez’s, it felt like a gift. A rose-tinted picture emerged, the income it seemed would be more than they hoped for and it felt as though the farm had been made specifically to fulfil  their dreams

When your eyes rest on the cobbling stream, it fails to see the damage the flood waters could do during a terrifying rain storm. What they saw was a farming project for her husband and a restoration project for her. “I would restore the 100-year old  farmhouse with two attics into a holiday home for our children and the grand-children still to come. We were thinking of the future – yet not so much!”

Again, looking back, she knows that even when packing their belongings for the grand move, there was trepidation. “The alarm bells came from inside me after that first visit to the farm. It didn’t feel so right anymore.”

On their way back following their first visit, they argued, but not about their momentous purchase. “That was too late. We had already signed the papers,” she says. But reality set in almost immediately after their arrival on the farm. “I realised it wasn’t mist blowing over the farm, it was dust,” only now realising that it dominated her huge struggle to cling to the dream.

No wisdom was passed on when they bought the farm and probably they would not have listened. Once they had decided to throw in the towel, a neighbour described as a wise boervrou (farmer’s wife), said that if she were buying a farm, she would have visited often, even if the seller grew tired of the intrusion. She would have considered every vantage point before she made an offer. “Now I would tell my younger self, you have to talk to all the farmers in the region. You have to ask about the pitfalls, know the weather patterns and discover everything there is to know which will not be included in the sales pitch,”says Willemien.

She has gained insight, of course, and now she knows that you cannot lightly tackle something this extraordinary. “You can’t just decide one day to go farming. You must know the lay of the land and preferably come from there.”

Fortunately the Du Preezs are not people who simply take life lying down. After quitting the farm, they spent a few years rebuilding their life in Cape Town and environment. André returned to law and Willemien taught Afrikaans to English speakers, picked up her acting career and earned enough money in international ads to take them on an overseas trip.

Following a decade in the Cape, they returned to Gauteng to be closer to their children and grandchildren and she started writing this book after encouragement from another author, Johann Symmington.

There were dark times as the pandemic was both a threat yet provided the time to write. For Willemien, writing about something that still has an impact on their lives was therapeutic. I suspect the rewards from grateful readers will also help to heal some wounds. It’s a story told with searing honesty and a humanity that’s heart-warming.

It’s the kind of thing that many will identify with, told in a manner that is as frank as anyone can be when focussing on their biggest folly. But don’t we all mistakes and tumble down that slippery slope and if you can rise from that heroically, take a bow.

When I met her following a talk at the Vrye Weekblad Book Festival in Cullinan, I knew that this was a book I wanted to read. When a dream shatters, not everyone manages to put the pieces together again.

But Willemien and André have done exactly that. “I know that we have accepted  the past and each other.”

And most precious of all, that’s what they have left: each other.

AUTHOR MICK HERRON’S SLOW HORSES OF SLOUGH HOUSE ARE AS DELICIOUS ON SCREEN AS ON PAPER

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If you haven’t heard of the author Mick Herron and the imaginary men and women who are all part of Slow Horses, it’s time to find those books and to stream the first two seasons of Slow Horses which can be seen on Apple TV now. DIANE DE BEER reveals more:

If you have Apple TV, this is one to see.

Those of you who loved the intrigue of John le Carré’s spy novels, lost your heart to his characters with George Smiley leading the pack and still remember Alec Guinness’s portrayal of the seemingly distracted, downtrodden spymaster, will be pleased to know there’s another spy series available to both read and catch on a streaming service.

With a gaping hole left behind by the Le Carré absence,  just in time, in steps author Mick Herron. I was told by a friend about the new arrival a few years back, and my husband and I jumped in immediately to tackle the series.

That was a while before the television series was even on the cards.

We were immediately hooked, but for me it was slow going because I had to catch up first with some other freshly published works waiting for review. I was even sent one of the books in the Slow Horses series along the way and quite recently I decided it was time to spoil myself and tackle the last four in the series. And I did so with glee.

Herron is a fantastic writer. His language often has your toes curling, and his characters and their ticks, especially the motley crew who make up the Slow Horses and quickly rule the roost.

Herron’s first thriller, aptly titled Slow Horses, was immediately shortlisted for the CWA Ian Flemming Steel Dagger as well as named one of the 20 best spy novels of all time by the London Daily Telegraph. The second, Dead Lions, won the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger, and so the list reads on and on with the awards and praise growing with each new novel in the series.

Once you’ve met the reluctant leader of the pack, Jackson Lamb, you won’t stop smiling at all his antics. He must be one of the most reviled bosses ever created and yet, while he is constantly deriding and humiliating his underlings, he is also first on the scene at any sign of trouble and the one to think up some terrible revenge when even a hair on the head of one of his spooks is pulled out of place.

Slough House, the name of the unappealing offices (if you could reasonably call it that), is where spies from MI5 are sent when they’ve messed up. No one cares what happens to them, borne out by the fact that their boss seems no more than a slouch who has been put on this earth to torture those who are unfortunate enough to serve under him.

While all this might be painting completely the wrong picture, it is difficult not to shout from the rooftops about this exhilarating spy writer who seems to have silently (and sometimes unobserved) risen to the top of the all-time best spy series list. It would be tough to find a reader who disagrees.

What more can one ask for than a spy novel written in a way that’s character-driven yet has a story unfolding which not only keeps you up at night, but also boasts a plot that will keep you engaged as you puzzle your way through the world of espionage?

In the end, if I had to pinpoint the most appealing aspect of a Jackson Lamb novel, it would be the language. To prove my point, a small extract which offers some kind of description of Slough House: “Heat rises, as is commonly known, but not always without effort. In Slough House, its ascent is marked by a series of bangs and gurgles, an audible diary of a forced and painful passage through cranky piping, and if you could magic the plumbing out of the structure and view it as a free-standing exoskeleton, it would be all leaks and dribbles: an arthritic dinosaur, its joints angled awkwardly where fractures have messily healed; its limbs a mismatched muddle; its extremities producing explosions of heat in unlikely places; its irregular palpitations a result of pockets of air straining for escape.”

And then about the ethos: “Slough House was a branch of the Service, certainly, but ‘arm’ was pitching it strong. As was ‘finger’, come to that; fingers could be on the button or on the pulse. Fingernails, now those you clipped, discarded, and never wanted to see again. So Slough House was a fingernail of the Service: a fair step from Regent’s Park geographically, and on another planet in most other ways. Slough House was where you ended up when all the bright avenues were closed to you. It was where they sent you when they wanted you to go away, but didn’t want to sack you in case you got litigious about it.”

And then finaly, just something about the feared leader Jackson Lamb: “Breakfast was two pints of water and four Nurofen. Shaving was out of the question, but he released himself from yesterday’s tie with the kitchen scissors and found a fresh suit, which meant one that had been in his actual wardrobe, if not on a hanger”… and it goes on.

I am now waiting patiently for book no ten in the series. In the meantime I could revisit the television series, two seasons of which have been released on Apple TV and are still available to watch with the promise of a third coming later this year.

When you have lost your heart to a series of books, it’s with trepidation that you watch the live version, the characters and stories you have invested in. But with this one, it’s all systems go. While Gary Oldman didn’t pop into my mind as Jackson Lamb, once the actor had inhabited the man, there was no one else who could have stepped into those slippery Lamb shoes with such relish and robust. And ditto to Kristin Scott Thomas in the role of Lamb’s nemesis as she plays his arrogant and disdainful boss at MI5. There are few actresses who can play elegant haughtiness with such ease. And the rest of the cast complete the picture magnificently.

Mick Herron must be thrilled with this adaptation which so sharply captures the essence of both the people and the place of this much loved series. And hopefully we will be able to catch up on the full series – and a few yet to be written, in the years to come.

If any of the above appeals to you, don’t hesitate. It’s a glorious addiction and one I plan to hold onto for as long as possible!

  • Published by John Murray, it is distributed by Jonathan Ball locally.

AUTHOR SIHLE KHUMALO KEEPS IT LIGHT WHILE SPEAKING HIS MIND ON SERIOUS ISSUES

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With his latest book Milk The Beloved Country (Umuzi), author Sihle Khumalo speaks his mind on many issues, and with the focus on local, it gives readers the chance to reflect on what they have and what the future holds for this country and its people. DIANE DE BEER spends some time with the man who has much on his mind and likes to share:

At our first meeting I realized that it would be impossible to try to give a summary of who this man, Sihle Khumalo, is.

I culd capture more of this prolific writer by giving you the titles of the books he has already written: Dark Continent – My Black Arse; Heart of AFRICA; Almost Sleeping My Way to Timbuktu; and Rainbow Nation My Zulu Arse.

And then the one I will focus on most sharply here, his latest, Milk The Beloved Country. He tells that the first book was  the result of his travels from Cape Town to Cairo using public transport. This was also to celebrate his 30th birthday.

In 1999, to celebrate his 24th birthday, he bungee jumped at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe; for his 25th he ran the Comrades Marathon (11hours 40 minutes); for his 27th birthday, in 2002, he started parachuting (on static line) at Pietermaritzburg’s Oribi airport ; in 2003, he did aerobatic flying (as a passenger) at Rand airport.

He currently lives in Johannesburg with his wife and two children. And the two women he dedicates the book to is his mother and his mother-in-law. For me that also speaks volumes and probably more revealing than anything I could add.

Perhaps this is not the kind of book that would have caught my attention if I didn’t have to speak to Sihle publicly – twice – which also meant I read the book twice. That in the end was a good thing, because it was with the second reading that I realised exactly what he was doing. It seems to be all over the place and yet, after a more careful reading, I was starting to get the drift of this very active mind.

Sihle Khumalo will have you thinking. With this smartly tongue-in-cheek book, what had me doing just that from the start, was wondering how he comes up with the concept. And even now I’m still not sure he knows. He has an active mind and personality (if that’s possible) but once you pin him down and start taking his words seriously, he has some very interesting stories to tell and points to make.

Myself (Diane de Beer ) with authors Sihle Khumalo and Deborah Steinmair at the Vrye Weekblad Book Festival at Cullinan earlier in April.

But take note, there is sleight of hand, because it might all seem frivolous, yet it’s anything but.

His previous books are travel-driven, so the research was done while visiting different places, but in this instance, the research had to come in more traditional fashion; libraries for example rather than the excitement of travel.

But he wanted to do it this way and it will be interesting to watch his future adventures to see whether they will be of the physical or mental kind.

The book is neatly divided into three sections, starting with the names of especially smaller towns and villages and where these come from. It’s intriguing and something all of us might have thought of or even discussed with children during tedious journeys, but he makes a study of it. And while there’s much to smile at, he also makes sure to spotlight some sharply observed issues, as this following notice in https://theconversation.com/africa daily email reaffirms:

“Today marks 60 years since Kenya attained internal self-rule from the British colonial powers. Names of places and other urban symbols were used as tools of control over space in many African countries during the colonial period. This strategy was epitomised by the British, who applied it vigorously in the Kenyan capital Nairobi from the late 1800s. Street names celebrating royalty and officialdom dominated the central part of the city, while African names were relegated to peripheral neighbourhoods. Melissa Wanjiru-Mwita explains the ways in which this strategy actively alienated the native African majority while promoting the political, ideological and racial dominance of the colonialist.”

What tickled me though is remembering the fuss from the white population about changes to the names of towns and provinces, for example when we were just staring out on our democracy in the early 90s. I can remember the anxiety expressed while wailing about their heritage ….

Much of the name changing has happened without fuss but, as Sihle reflects, many more changes wouldn’t be a bad idea – including the name of our country which to his mind, points to a destination rather than something which would reflect the people living there. I still have to scratch my head to remember and hold on to some of the name changes, but they do make sense and feel much more part of the continent, the country and all its people.  It is the diversity of the country that is our strength and it should be reflected in as much as possible publicly so that it becomes commonplace.

The second section starts with the intriguing quote: You’ve got to find some way of saying it without saying it (Duke Ellington) and this is something that I personally think drives Sihle’s writing.

Titled The Power Brokers he dives right in, exploring our very own secret society, the Broederbond. He starts with the role players and their influence and then moves on to the private sector and intelligence.

As with the names of towns, which most South Africans might say they’re familiar with, the Broederbond because of its secrecy was intriguing to many, but for those of us not invested in the politics of the apartheid state, we thought we knew more than we actually did. And this, coming from an outside point of view as well as after the fact (or so we hope!), reminds us where we come from when we start pointing fingers.

Politics has always been about power and we can only hold thumbs that it comes from a good place – even if just most of the time.

Drawing a line through all that secrecy, he moves to different groupings of people including the freemasons; the unions and then couples the taxis, religion and traditional leaders together concluding with The Masses and sadly, the fact that we the people warrant less than a third of a page, says it all. That and the first sentence: There is nothing significant to report here.

What I also like about this particular section is the comparison of the past with the present. Corruption for example, we all speak about it as if it’s something new. Read on …

And in conclusion, Sihle tells us to Pause and Ponder:

Two weeks after the 2021 insurrection, The Washington Post described our “celebrated rainbow nation” as the “global poster child of economic inequality where deep poverty sits in the shadow of astronomical wealth.” If that doesn’t make you weep, nothing will.

He sums up the apathy by focusing first on the Feeding frenzy on state resources. I know that surprised me most post 94. I didn’t think that the leaders would turn their back on the very people who needed their assistance most. (And I do understand that they had the best examples in the former white regime).

For those of us puzzled by the ruling party’s elective conferences, he takes a closer look at: 2007, 2012 and 2017.

The Constitutional Court and the judiciary also come into play. It’s under attack in so many countries, the US and Israel, to name a few? It’s always been my beacon of hope, and I do still in spite of, believe that our people, our strength will pull us through. Sihle speaks his mind as he does on the following hair raising issue: Is South Africa a failed state? And when exactly was it captured?

And then finally, on a second reading, this lucky packet of a book truly spoke to me. Not just about what he was writing about but also learning more about this man with his wandering mind. I have heard different opinions about his writing. I cannot speak to any other than this latest book.

Some could argue that Sihle Khumalo is a man of too many seasons. But he speaks his mind and where that takes us is what appealed to me. As a fellow South African, I want as many opinions as are out there because in the end, most of us just want to be left to get on with our lives. And, if possible, to have a government that lends a helping hand. Life is tough enough without any extra hindrances.

And while some might be milking the beloved country, we should remember what we have and that the people and the place are real strengths and not something to mess with.

AUTHOR JONNY STEINBERG CAPTURES THE FORCE BEHIND THE MANDELA MARRIAGE PORTRAIT

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If you think you know everything about Winnie and Nelson Mandela, award-winning author Jonny Steinberg will probably change your mind with his insightful portrayal of a couple who held the world’s attention for the longest time. Having read the book, DIANE DE BEER listens to the author speak about his latest endeavour:

Pictures from the book courtesy of the publishers

When I first spotted the book Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage (Jonathan Ball), it was the author Jonny Steinberg who caught my attention.

Not that the Mandelas aren’t worthy, simply that I didn’t think another book on the Mandelas could shed new light. But Steinberg changed that presumption.

From the first time I had to read a Steinberg book  –  as he was going to be a guest speaker at one of our newspaper’s book lunches  –  I was a fan.

Author Jonny Steinberg

The Number, which dealt with gangs, was the one that did it. I had very little interest in the subject, thought I knew enough, but having read Steinberg’s well-researched and analytically astute account, I wasn’t going to miss any of his books again.

And when I saw he was to be one of the speakers at the Franschhoek Literary Festival 2023 where I was invited to do an interview with the delightful Nataniël, I was sold on reading and listening to the author’s conversation with Hlonipha Mokoena, an associate professor and researcher at WiSER (Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research) where she specialises in African Intellectuals.

I picked the right one. Portrait of a Marriage should have been my clue because this is what this author does. He takes a topic which might not have crossed your radar in any sense of the word, and turns it on its head in a way that pulls you in and grabs your interest. It’s a gift and one that has turned him into one (if not the top) of our best non-fiction writers.

And one of the first obstacles he encountered was a feeling of shame because he found himself prying into the private world of these two icons – once again. Initially, he was going to write two books, one on each of these individuals, until someone pointed out that one would perhaps be more sensible and, ultimately, probably better.

This is where his own thoughts probably gathered momentum and insight. The question he wished to explore was Nelson’s sense of being and how much that was entwined with Winnie, especially while in prison – which was a punishing 27 years long.

Nelson and Winnie, 1958, probably shortly before their wedding.
Eli Weinberg, UWC-Robben Island Museum Mayibuye Archives.

What Steinberg realised was that when imprisoned, Nelson didn’t know Winnie that well. That’s when a fantasy of the woman he loved started emerging. She became the dominant figure in his head. When a great man is written about, his personal life is obscured but the opposite is true for a woman. And this is where the blessing and curse of the Mandela name came into play.

With Nelson’s incarceration, the impact on Winnie and her two daughters was intense on many different levels. For instance, Nelson understood himself as head of the family and he wanted to preserve his wife and their marriage.

But this became difficult in prison because of their compromised relationship. All their conversations were recorded and transcribed. And again, it is these transcriptions that gave the author entrée and heightened insight into the Mandela couple. Yet in some ways they also made him a reluctant participant.

Prisoners breaking stones in the courtyard outside the leadership section on Robben Island. Nelson’s cell window is on the far right.
Copyright of Cloete Breytenbach, courtesy of Leon Breytenbach.

Many issues come into play. Because they were being recorded, something they were aware of, these intimate conversations were compromised from the start. For Steinberg it became a compromising decision. Could he use these conversations without compromising the couple’s dignity? “It’s unusual to eavesdrop in this way,” he explained.

For example, the pettiness of an incarcerated Nelson was one of those situations for Steinberg, yet he knew if he wanted to write the book, he needed the information.

From very early on, Winnie used her sexuality as power, says the author. And Nelson in a similar vein was always very aware of how he looked in the suits he used to wear. Unusual at the time and with his presence, an additional bonus. “They understood that their very being was a commodity,” notes Steinberg.

One of the first photographs of Winnie Madikizela to be published. Bantu World/Arena Holdings.
Winnie and daughter Zindzi leaving court in Bloemfontein, 1977. Winnie was charged with breaking the conditions of the order banning her to Brandfort.
Bailey’s African History Archive/Africa Media Online.

Beauty complicated Winnie’s life. Right from the start, she was born into the struggle which determined her life. She understood how to pick winners and forget the losers. She also knew how to get under someone’s skin. Few people who met her could resist her and were left untouched.

In fact, it is the effect the Mandelas had individually and together that Steinberg explores and captures so well. Would life have been different if the couple had been less aware of their pulling power, their value as a commodity?

Winnie for example couldn’t be alone and always knew that she had to deliver on the expectations of others. She had to be what they wanted her to be. She even told tales about her childhood from very early on.

To protect herself, her reality often had to be concealed. Steinberg explains: she became the symbol of Black womanhood. She was able to become what people wanted and had a sense of her role in public life, believing that she was the centre piece.

For Nelson it was Fort Hare where the foundation of leadership was born.

When they came together, Winnie understood what it meant to be seen. The mission schools invested in the idea that Black men should marry Black women and the Mandelas represented that myth of the power couple. “Their marriage becomes a symbol for the struggle for freedom.”

Nelson and Winnie Mandela at the rally held to celebrate Nelson’s release at FNB Stadium near their Soweto home on February 13, 1990. nelson spent the previous night, his first bnack in Johannesburg, alone in a suburban house near Lanseria Airport.
Photo by Udo Weitz/AP/Shutterstock (7364405a)

Nelson understood the power of his and Winnie’s story with the focus on the romance between them. Their power did represent a nation and yet, they ended up being political enemies. Is there anyone in South Africa who lived through their story and wasn’t shattered by the dissolution of their marriage?

The irony of their relationship was that for Nelson his greatest fear for his country was civil war, while his wife was the embodiment of everything he feared.

Nelson Mandela speaks to boys at the historically white King Edward VII School, Johannesburg, 1993.
Photo by © Louise Gubb/CORBIS SABA/Corbis via Getty Images

He becomes a powerful person, but in prison – and out of touch with what is happening. He is locked up by and with people who hate him and when he escapes, he does so in his imagination, The essence of Winnie’s life is her internal world of fire.

I was completely mesmerised by Steinberg’s deeply felt analytical writing about South Africa’s most powerful couple. Even before the advent of social media, with Nelson Mandela imprisoned and his wife under constant surveillance, they captured and kept the attention of the world.

Steinberg tells that story magnificently and with fresh insight and focus.