BY DOMINQUE VERSTER
For all you theatre freaks out there, Woordfees is back! The same festival that brought you Die Gangsters, Tien Duisend Ton, Endgame and Katvoet has returned with a variety of new productions and fresh Stellenbosch University (SU) talent. Here is a sneak peek into the Woordfees theatre line-up of this year:
“Bless” die blou bal
“Bless” die blou bal is an Afrikaans comedy that questions the nature of virginity and sex as a societal norm. The play revolves around the crisis that character Kristen Cilliers faces as she slowly approaches her 30th birthday as a virgin.
“The play is a quirky take on what it means to be a virgin and the pressure that people experience to be sexually active and super open when sometimes they’re just not inherently that way,” explains “Bless” die blou bal actress Ayden Kruger*.
“We performed this play last year and the audience loved it; they were rolling on the floor. I would really recommend it to any student,” Kruger said.
The production also features some talent from the local SU drama department, namely Jean du Plessis, Ayden Kruger, Conradie van Heerden, Anya Human and Melissa Myburgh.
Extra Large, please?
Produced and written by Matie drama alumnus Mercy Kannemeyer, the comedy Extra Large, please? delivers significantly relevant commentary on the unrealistic beauty ideals that are perpetuated by the fashion industry. The production manages to deal with such an important topic in an enormously funny way and remains a hit at every performance.
Wag, wat?
Wag, wat? is a fast paced, sharp and witty comedy written and directed by Matie drama alumnus and Tydelik Terminaal star Carla Smith. The story follows the development of two familiar strangers’ relationship and introduces themes of life and death, life after death, gender roles and power struggles within relationships.
“It’s fun; it doesn’t drag. It’s got Adam and Eve at the centre and people can perceive them as dramatic and boring, but it’s not a critique on the religion or a [religious drama]. It focuses more on Eve’s perspective of what happened after her apple-sinning-catastrophe,” explains the stage-manager Andrea Hofmeyer.
Alongside Smith, who plays Eve in the production, you’ll find Wian Taljaard from kykNET’s Lui maar op, Belinda.
Slavenhuis 39
Written by Matie drama alumnus Herschelle Benjamin, Slavenhuis 39, is a student drama that seeks to explore themes surrounding masculinity, gangsterism, religion, racism, culture, sexuality and humanity.
The play focuses on the internal and interpersonal conflict that four young coloured students of SU face when they move into a flat that previously acted as a slave lodge during colonial era Stellenbosch. In the process, they are spurred to question their heritage and also what it means to be coloured in modern day South Africa.
Lycra and petticoats
This play, while also being written and directed by Carla Smith, is a fast-paced comedy that tells the untold story of getting a theatre production together. The play sets a kind of frame narrative wherein seven theatre performers have to overcome various obstacles in their preparation for their final dress rehearsal of Romeo and Juliet.
According to the stage manager, Andrea Hofmeyer, the play speaks to a young, student audience and continues to be a hit at every performance.
*This is a correction of an error made in the paper. Melissa Myburgh is the writer and director of the play, not Ayden Kruger.
