Arts Writer
CAPE Town learners will be highly prepared when stepping into the exam room in June, following the return of the Grade 11 - 12 isiXhosa set-work play ( Amaza) – an Artscape youth development skills production to be held from May 18 to June 2 at The Artscape Theatre complex.
Endorsed by the Western Cape Education Department with support from the HCI Foundation, Amaza forms part of the Artscape educational youth development programme that aims to promote social cohesion, good citizenship and empowerment through the arts.
This production by ZS Qangule is in its sixth consecutive season and it is aimed at Grade 11 and 12 isiXhosa learners from the greater Cape Town area, who will get the opportunity to experience the play in their own language and hopefully further equip them with essential skills to become performers.
The two hour work will once again be presented as a full stage production that will also appeal to the general public.
“The purpose of the educational programme is to assist grade 11 and 12 learners academically by presenting plays which are taught as literature on a theatre stage, therefore putting it in its intended setting”, says Marlene Le Roux, Chief Executive Officer for Artscape.
“We will also be introducing learners to theatre and drama production of a high quality, thereby building the audience of the future”, concluded Le Roux.
Directed by Thokozile Ntshinga, Amaza is a 17 cast member thriller set in a rural village in the Transkei.
Here a police detective stationed in Port Elizabeth is investigating a personal matter. The case takes him back to the village where he and the woman he married came from. His visit there coincides with the double funeral of a couple that were mysteriously murdered in Johannesburg. Adultery, deceit and lies are just some of the ingredients of this tale. The detective’s investigation takes him to Joburg, then to Swaziland and back to Port Elizabeth. As he is tries to solve the mystery, he stumbles across the evidence he was looking for in the first place. Shows are at 10.30am and 2pm on certain days.
Afrikaans Grade 10 and 12 learners will also get a chance to see experience their setwork books in “3D” with the staging of Fiela se Kind and Krismis van Map Jacobs over the next two months. Next on the bill is Adam Small’s Krismis van Map Jacobs, which opens in the Artscape Arena on May 6.
l For information, bookings: Sedrico Husselman, 021 410 9927, sluproj@artscape.co.za