GM Grahamstown dealership the pits

For all it's great delights especially at festival time, don't ever come to Grahamstown with a GM vehicle that may require emergency servicing - because the local dealership, Kenrich Motors is the pits.

And the dealership's poor service is inversely proportional to the size of dealer principal Dean Kent's ego.

A friend's Chevy Spark broke down on the first weekend of the fest. It required numerous queries to fully ascertain what steps the dealership was taking to properly diagnose the problem.

Ten days later - and 3 days after the mass exit from town at the end of the festival - she was still waiting for her car to be released, despite commitments from Kent right down to the hour the job would be done.

This mechanical fiasco necessitated additional logistics arrangements that cost around R4000, apart from the emotional trauma of waiting around with no certainty about what's going on.

A complaint to Kent elicited a rant about my "pompous attitude" and that he really didn't "give a damn".

I'm hoping that GMSA cares enough about it's brand and customer experiences to slap down a dealer who shows scant regard for either.

But then again, perhaps I shouldn't hold my breath.

From the NAF - Mafeking Road takes you right past Bosman zani-ness

Presented by The Pink Couch. Directed by Tara Notcutt

Any “serious” reader of Herman Charles Bosman’s stories of the Groot Marico knows only too well how totally zany the characters and situations are – in a tightly-buttoned-up-like-a-dominee-at-Sunday-morning-nagmaal kind of way.

So, despite their slow start, I warmed to Andrew Laubscher and Mathew Lewis’s depictions of life on that other planet. It soon becomes a rapid gallop through Bosman’s best stories; thankfully the audience doesn’t have to endure the stultifying rendition of all 176 verses of Psalm 119, as the congregation had to in The Bekkersdal Marathon.

Bekkersdal is just one of many stories from Bosman’s collection given a modern technological twist and a physical interpretation. Andrew and Mathew flit from one character to another and their antics will leave you breathless. I thoroughly enjoyed the production and the ovation the duo received was well-deserved.

- RAY HARTLE

From the Drama Fest - Bantustan retro brings us right into the present

Presented by Lubikha Theatre Project, written by Michael Lubisi and directed by Darlington Michaels

I really concentrated throughout this drama because I was concerned to find some – any – redeeming feature about the production. But, a poor script, an unclear story line and “hamateurish” acting put the kibosh into my efforts to find something meaningful to say.

The play has a good idea, examining the role of Charles Sebe in his half-brother Lennox’s despotic Ciskei bantustan regime. Charles is at once depicted as a bastard, a buffoon, someone seeking intelligent discourse, a man psychologically hobbled by his place in his own family and the political pecking order, as well as the physical scars of previous military skirmishes.

But it rambles on. Characters are not clearly drawn. There is no scene coherence and some of the acting is just appalling. There is the odd moment worth salvaging. Like the presentation of the bicycle gift from Pretoria to Ciskei – with a flat black tyre representing Zwelitsha and a missing front tyre a metaphor for Mdantsane,

Ultimately, however, I realise that the value of Bantustan is in showing up the idiocy and political intrigue driving some of the behaviours of the current ruling party, behaviours that mimic those of despotic regimes like the Sebes we thought were long behind us.

Few in the audience would come away without reflecting on the struggles being waged today by poor, homeless and unemployed South Africans and the feeding trough insensitivity of the leaders for whom they voted.

This is a return to our struggle, showing us where we’ve been and the difficult road we traversed to 1994. Senzeninam – “What have we done as a black nation to the cries for liberation and democracy?”

Except for that vote, this is no different to being disenfranchised and consigned to a homeland outside South Africa’s borders, contending with Machiavellian politicians who turn too easily to teargas and rubber bullets as a means of responding to legitimate demands.

There are more productions on offer this year than in any year since democracy which remind us of where we’ve come from in relation to the state of our politics today. Three Little Pigs does that perfectly. Bantustan does it inadvertently - and anything but perfectly.

I thought perhaps Bantustan could be tightly re-written and, with stronger direction, could offer us a good perspective on an interesting moment in our struggle history. But I think members of Lubhika Theatre Project should simply be given free tickets to view other works at the festival, so that they can begin to re-hone their craft.

- RAY HARTLE

From the Student Drama Fest - Tweet, the Musical

Presented by The Waterfront Theatre School, directed by Paul Griffiths with music and lyrics by Roland Perold

While not original – the impact of technology on our human interaction has been top-of-mind of creative artists for decades now - the concept driving Tweet – The Musical is a good one: Human beings may be connected in cyberspace via technology, but we’re losing the ability to look into each other’s eyes and connect in the real world.

The Waterfront Theatre School in Cape Town is the only dedicated facility offering the three-pronged disciplines of musical theatre - drama, dance and singing. Tweet – The Musical is the school’s first foray into the National Arts Festival and director Paul Griffiths and composer-lyricist Roland Perold have played it safe, offering a Broadway-style original musical which plays to the natural and taught strengths of the cast.

The characters operate in a narrow band, where they are defined by what they project onto social networking sites. But they’re Tweeting and Facebooking on their own into a void where their communications are reciprocated by similarly uni-dimensional “friends”. And, they all lack the necessary skills to connect face-to-face. The characters, perhaps intentionally, are not fully drawn, but from cyber-stalker to online guru to vacuous debutante they are not far removed from those we encounter online every day.

Given this soul-less and disconnected world, the characters initially believe that the only solution may be pulling the plug on their online excursions, but Tweet offers a glimpse into a middle ground where cyber and real connections may exist side-by-side. And it does so without becoming didactic.

Notwithstanding rather weak material, the cast’s characterization and musical abilities shone, taking control of the stage and drawing the audience in. Mikhail Jones, in particular, offered a voice and personality which made a strong impression. I thought that more effort could have gone into the choreography, given the movement and physicality exhibited in other student productions on offer this year. But that is a minor weakness. As was the volume on the piano, which drowned out the lyrics of the songs and made it difficult initially to follow the story line.

The Tweet theme is one to which the youthful cast can relate. Young people, after all, are most confronted by the demands and opportunities of the cyber world. I wonder then, why Griffiths and Perold have gone for a musical era with which few young people – I would suggest – can relate. Where was the thumping, in-your-face hip hop lyrics or house and electro-synthetic pop music?

Perhaps next year? Because I have no doubt that an accomplished performance from these young students must establish a platform for their return.

- RAY HARTLE