My first real experience of the Grahamstown festival was as a struggling student working for a group of missionary sisters from Lesotho who had arrived with half-a-pantechnicon of mohair and wool jerseys to set up a stall on Somerset street.
They didn’t need much marketing in the middle of a typical festival winter to get most of their goods sold. My job was to haul huge boxes of stock in and out of the sales area, keep an eye out for leakages and watch the festival unfold from the outer fringes, as it were.
The next year I was promoted to house manager of the city hall, the venue for “serious” music events at the time. It allowed me to see a couple of shows a day, brush up on my music knowledge and tear the ticket stubs of lah-dee-dah music patrons. I would have preferred to be working down the road at the Grand Hotel at the then-fledgling and rather down-market jazz component of the festival.
Today, I am almost overwhelmed by how big and busy and vibrant the spectacle that is the National Arts Festival has become. It’s even more daunting if you’re a novice festival-goer or festino.
The festival takes over the relatively small Grahamstown on a mammoth scale – happening in school, church, and community halls, in business galleries, across the university campus, on the streets, in fields and, of course, in the 1820 Settlers Monument on the hill overlooking the town.
Most day-trippers arrive in Grahamstown and head for the Village Green or another of the sites of stall-holders dotted around town. I think this is a mistake; not that I think the missionary sisters and brothers from across the country and the continent are not worthy of your support, it’s just that you run the risk of being swallowed up in the volume of things to browse or buy. But, if you insist, allocate a couple of hours for shopping – with a definite cut-off time and buy what appeals to you immediately rather than committing to come back later - either you’ll run out of time or it will be sold before you get back!
The festival these days consists of many festivals rolled into one jamboree, There’s a main festival which is a bit of the misnomer, as many mainstream drama pieces, musical productions and other artistic events happen on what is known as the fringe, in scores of venues across the city. And while a few major venues are reserved for main festival events, there is no difference in the quality of the productions or the facilities from one venue to another.
Straddling this divide between main and fringe are the jazz festival, student theatre which showcases productions from the performing arts departments of most universities, WordFest and ThinkFest which draw together some light-hearted but mainly serious discussions on issues of the day and SpiritFest which is a theme used by faith communities in the City of Saints.
With such an array of productions, it’s easy to get psyched out. Don’t be. The first thing to do is to decide if you want to go with a festival experience that’s more familiar, if you want something to soothe your soul, or if you’re willing to dive into something so radically different and niched that you’ll never see it in your part of the province.
I try to do all three. So, this year - going with what I know - I’m seeing a Cape Town Ballet production of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, a show by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a perennial festival winner Raiders with Nicholas Ellenbogen and other total nutters from Kwazulu-Natal, and talks by futurist Clem Sunter and the cartoonist South African politicos love to hate, Zapiro.
Even if you just choose one show - scan for names you’re familiar with, either a writer, director or performer. Most of the household names from TV or live shows will show up at the festival in one way or another. Although sometimes, you may expect something understandable from a performer with whom you’re familiar only to find that their Grahamstown offering this year is an esoteric piece, rather than their usual stand-up comedy
You’ll be constantly coming up against the recommendations of the hordes standing in queues outside venues about they have seen, half-seen (up to the point they walked out because of the edginess, foul language or whatever) or intend to see.
The reason I give for hanging out at the jazz festival at Diocesan School for Girls is that it’s unlikely that I’ll hear any of the foreign musicians, especially the Dutch and Skandinavian muzos who really seem to like Grahamstown, at any other time in the Eastern Cape. Truth is, this is about having something – okay, lots of things then – to soothe my soul. This is that part of the festival which is not about rushing around frenetically talking to people in queues about what you’re just seen. It’s about chilling.
I dress up warmly, go early to get a proper place in the house which allows me to enjoy good sound but also see some nifty finger work (I imagine that I have some basic technical musical ability which enhances my enjoyment). So, decide what stirs your soul and look out for entries on the programme – whether a performance or an exhibition - that meet that need.
After going with what you know and soothing your soul, don’t leave out the challenge of trying something radically different, whether it’s stepping out of a genre, cultural or style box you may carry around with you. I’m opting this year to see as many entries on the film festival schedule, given that we don’t often get to see any of the top foreign or niche movies – and even a number of great South African productions – in the Eastern Cape.
Given the diversity of productions at this year’s Grahamstown festival, there’s a great chance that you can be exposed to something of artistic value you’ve never experienced before. Go find it.
• First published in the Daily Dispatch, June 24, 2011.
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