Arts Prevention in Eastern Cape

We arrived in Matatiele with the aim of making something happen and we have despite everything come away having achieved that. We had a contact from the department of arts, culture, recreation and sport who we had been attempting to contact for weeks before with no response, so we just rocked up regardless.

What has become very clear in the last week is that there are an abundance of talented groups meeting all over the Eastern Cape but there is a lack of support and resources and an amount of ineptitude on the part of the officials. I have now encountered people from all levels from the new MEC (head) of arts, culture, leisue and sport for South Africa all the way down to district officials who are responsible for arts and culture activity in their area.

We finally tracked down our elusive contact and drove to Mount Ayliff and crashed a meeting, where we got to meet all the managers working in the various areas of arts and culture in this region. We got a great response they were so happy we'd come from P.E and the UK and wanted to work in this area, but were more interested in whether we were married and wanted setting up than what we wanted to do here. Luckily on that day there were a number of leaders from dance and drama groups meeting, so we ran a workshop with them to drum up some interest in working with us over the next 4 days. The problem would be transport costs for the groups, a space to work in and food and water. Arts and Culture said they would organise transport and would get us the key to Matatiele Town Hall, a great resource that sits empty most of the time.

We waited the next morning with baited breath ready for our 5 groups to show up, we waited and waited.... for 2 and a half hours... no key arrived, no groups arrived.... so we left.... then when we decided to check later we found swarms of young people sitting outside the building having made there own way as the transport hadn't turned up. Some had come from far in the rural areas and none really had the money to afford the transport but didn't want to miss out. We were stuck outside this great building, in the freezing cold, with more and more people arriving, the phones of the officials either turned off or the ones we could get through to passing blame and creating more confusion. We waited 4 hours, whilst the search for who had the one and only key to this building commenced, the security guy on the gate didn't even have a key or any idea who might have it... the Mayor was called in, security men in uniforms turned up... it was utter chaos.... and still more eager young people from all over kept arriving, word had spread and there were more than the original groups. We couldn't bear to send them home without having done anything. We went to get food and drink for them all as none had any with them. As it was almost going to get dark I just took the decision to just do it right there in the street, we made a huge circle with about 60 of us and played some high energy games to keep us warm, attracting plenty of attention.

Finally a man with a key appeared......

We used the evening to let the groups showcase their work as many had turned up in costume and had a whole repertoire of work they wanted to show. The leaders had never brought these groups together before, so it was great for them to have a platform and an audience. Again there was an astonishing amount of drama about HIV and rape, seeing 9 year olds doing drama about such serious issues is a world away from my experiences of working with young people in England. There were a few pieces that were different and a breath of fresh air, but there's not a lot of comedy!

We kept hold of the town hall key as it was the safest place for it, and there was no one in or around the building when we left, we attempted to turn out the lights and managed to turn off all the street lights in the entire block! Everything was plunged into darkness... how much chaos can we cause in this town!

The next day we arranged for Swallows to pay for the groups transport so they could come back and work with us for a full day. It was amazing all 5 groups showed up only 45 minutes late (a record when you're on African time!) And amazing how organised it was when we did our own thing, without the officials involved. We decided to work on a traditional story and tell it as a play in a day.

Butterflies Group

For four days I've been working with Annie Rigby, Zamuxolo and Nolutu with a wonderful group of young performers in a place called Dordrecht. Dordrecht is a very small rural place with not much going on, everything closes at 7pm and there are little opportunities for anyone wanting to get involved with the arts. The township or location that sits on the outskirts of Dordrecht is home to some of the most dedicated young performers I have ever met. These young peole are living in the most basic of houses, some still resembling shacks. They are lucky enough to have a huge hall that they have been entrusted the key to where they meet 7 days a week to create theatre together. The hall is dusty and very cold and has one chair and one wobbly table but is the home to an abundance of talent and creativity.



We picked up Clement on the way who was stranded in Queenstown with no money to get home. Having spent two weeks with Paul and Tearlach last year he was so happy to see us and welcomed us to come and work with them for a few days. It's been very inspiring and also slightly depressing as this group are so committed but face so many challenges. Having lost their director, Clement stepped up to lead the group, but he is now away in Queenstown training and trying to find opportunities for himself to move forward leaving the group unsure of their future.

We worked with the group on a piece they are working on that they are entering into a competition so thay can get to go to the dance and drama festival in Port Elizabeth. The piece was about HIV and myths about cures, it was pretty shocking as I haven't seen much of the theatre groups are creating yet. One myth is that if you have sex with a child under 6 months you will be cured of the virus, the piece included very explicit scenes that were very difficult to watch. There are a lot of young groups wanting to make theatre with strong messages to educate their communities and having seen a lot more since Dordrecht it's clear there is a lack of originality and subtlety in the telling of these stories. The use of dance and singing is a real strong point and many scenes are underscored with incredible improvised harmonies that can create a chilling atmosphere. With the butterflies it's been really difficult the struggle of not wanting to wade in with new ideas and changing their piece but wanting to improve it and for them to go away with new skills they could use in the future. But they were very open and worked so hard, and when we left the piece had been injected with some humour and we'd persuaded them through trying out different ways that it was more powerful to not see the rape scene.

We ran many exercises that we taught them to run themselves and left them with some books full of new ideas and a new stereo so they can practise dance too. It was quite an emotional farewell as we'd had a wonderful few days. I hope to see them again in the future.

Theatre

We've visted a number of theatre spaces and met staff at both the Port Elizabeth Opera House and The Guild Theatre in East London, both seem to be purely hosting theatres, with visiting companies bringing ballets, opera, extravagant school shows and some theatre and comedy. Neither having the resources to either produce work themselves or have any kind of education work happening. Everyone has been really positive and passionate about their work but so stifled but the lack of funding. It makes me think of our position in the UK and at Live Theatre in avery different way and how lucky we are to have the resources and number of staff and opportunities that we have. The Guild Theatre has two spaces and has 4 full time staff running the entire place, a theatre manger who has at times financially supported the theatre himself to keeep it going and has given 19 years to the place. PE Opera house has started a youth theatre on a Saturday morning and they did their first show last year but have no plans for another at present.. again.. due to lack of resources. 60 young people turn up to one group with one worker every week. Speaking to a guy who had come over to the Uk two years ago said he came back with his head so full of ideas, so inspired and excited about the possibilitiesbut had to come down to earth with a hard reality check when he returned. Dispite the recession we are very lucky.

Elephants... Zebras... Buffalo.... Dung Beetles...

After a heavy few days of immersing ourselves in information overload about South Africa's history, apartheid and the struggle leading up to the 1994 elections. Feeling the awkwardness of being a white English person here, taking it all in and trying to unscrabble it all in my head I was relieved to have a day off from history and culture and have a day of wild animals. We visited Addo national park, 168,000 hectares of bush and scrub land filled with an array of exciting wildlife. We got so close to an Elephant andwatched him taking a drink from a water hole, we just stopped short of running over adung beetle who was rolling his ball of elephant dung accross the track tripping and losing his grip a few times on his way. Zebras chilling in the distance and plenty of beautiful Kudus, a deer type creature with amazing markings on its face and large cute bambi type ears, the males with long twisting horns. A buffalo carrying the weight of an enormous pairs of horns on his sweet face, looking like he was wearing pig tails with a parting.
Ostrichs, glossy starlings (irridescent blue), warthogs and loads of other birds I couldn't identify.

Amazing....

The hole in the road

After a long journey across the Transkei, leaning out the window loving the vastness, the crazy plants and hoping for a siting of some wild animal (saw a dead monkey in the road!) we were heading to the place we were staying for the night and had taken a small, incresingly bumpy road when the vans came to a halt as the road had pretty much turned into boulders. We got out to survey the situation, realising it wasn't passable started to make plans for rescue mission. In the dark with a forset fire creeping towards us, the milky way and the clearest night sky I've ever seen above us and the sounds of creatures in the bushes some were panicking, some running about on mobile phones trying to get us out and me and Jenny (my new friend) revelling in the whole situation... Loving the drama and excitement.

A white Afrikaans guy (in fact the first we have met in the 3 days we've been here) Mark came with his super truck and towed us whilst reversing over the boulders, damaging the underside of our hire vans substantially! He was our knight in a dirty huge truck but we forgave his CO2 emissions and toasted him in the bar when we finally arrived.

Girls

Met some brilliant girls randomly in a rural village in the middle of the Transkei we had stopped in to stretch our legs on the road trip. My lip ring seems to be quite a talking point and attracts young South Africans to me which is great when one of my missions is to meet as many girls as I can for my documentary project. They were attending school in this village, some of them walking miles to get there from other villages, they were very confident and very keen to be in a film, speaking amazingly clear English. They all had their hair cut short, a requisite of attending this particular school. There were plenty of similarities with Geordie teenage girls talking about boys, being glad of having more opportunities these days and..... High School Musical!

Nelson Mandela

We visited the Nelson Mandela museum in Mthata today which was quite an affecting place. To read and hear about so many of the facts and finer detail I wasn’t aware of. The conditions on Robben Island, his time living as ‘The Black Pimpernel’ in hiding and on the run. It so hard to imagine living in a country with such oppression and also a country of such huge change and passion. The photo of the queue in 1994 when black people got to vote, it snaked around, going on for miles across the landscape. To imagine being the man who personified the struggle and fight for freedom, and to think he’s retired now and able to relax finally and say, “cool... I did it.” He says something about the garden at Robben Island and how he saw it as some kind of metaphor for what he’d started. How if you plant a seed and watch it grow you must be responsible for looking after it, watering it etc... in the hope one day it’ll bloom. And the responsibility that comes with that. We went to his birth place, a rural place called Qunu and I slid down the rock he used to play on as a child, my bum is now sacred.

Mthata

Our group of 7 has now increased to 13 as we are greeted in Mthata by our South African hosts, Peggy, Monde, Gcobani and Simphiwe and Mark Lloyd.

Landing on a tiny air strip just before dusk with a beautiful light making the vast landscape look so vivid and colourful. Once the noisy little plane stopped it was so quiet, no traffic noise at all as we walked from the plane to the terminal building, a one roomed place. We’ve arrived in the Eastern Cape. The drive to Mthata from the airport was fabulous, so much open space in all directions. Small houses some round, some rectangular, all painted bright colours (green and pink a popular choice) dotted about randomly, each with its own bit of land. Some growing a few crops, some with goats, sheep or cattle. It feels great to be in open space I really feel like we’re in Africa now.

After a much needed shower and change we visited The Arts and Crafts Hub, a building filled with colour and creativity. Almost an exhibition space but also a kind of shop that is filled with beads, traditional outfits, scary looking dolls, pottery, and other fabulous arts and crafts. The arts hub represents local crafters from the villages and gives them a place to advertise and sell their art. They receive training workshops in pricing and marketing and have an outlet to avoid exploitation and to make sure their craft is being valued. There is no mark up on the prices as the hub receives funding so all the profit goes to the crafter

Jo'burg

Arriving after an epic journey, it was a relief to be outside after the expanses of shiny floors and tiny compact plane seats. All in all we’d been on the go for about 28 hours, with a long wait in Charles De Gaulle airport, with no cash or wish to spend in Prada, Dior and other such fancy money grabbing boutiques. In flight entertainment kept me happy on the 10 and a half hour flight but not really managing to get any sleep so we were all in a rather elated but delirious state when we were greeted by Peter Stark’s open arms.

As we were a day behind with our packed itinerary we got straight in our minibus, with a smiling driver Paul, for a whistlestop tour of Jo’burg. From one of the highest points in the city we had a panoramic view. Covering the gold reef, the mine dumps on the edge of the city, the posh houses of the white middle classes with an amazing amount of security and razor wire surrounding them, and the city centre from a distance. We drove into downtown Jo’burg, and whizzed around the centre and the cultural area in Newtown. Still a bit too dazed to rtake it all in.. but so happy to be here and the sun is shining....

Still in the toon!!

It's 10am Sunday morning and after an incredibly early start, 3.30am wake up, 4.30am at the airport, I am now back at home. It was all going too well, smooth check in, no queues for security, no issues with liquids and plastic bags, didn't even have to take my shoes off or get frisked, a quick cuppa and on to the plane swiftly. Gearing up for take off , the guy next to me and Annie already passed out, and then comes a series of long announcements about techncal faults, fuel warning systems down, air hostesses quickening their struts up and down the aisle, men in yellow jackets piling in, the pilot wandering around with a troubled look trying to placate passengers who are dying to get irrate at the slightest hold up.

An hour or so later and the pilot announces they've decided to treat the plane as a computer and as a last stab in the dark, turn it off and turn it on again! A general muttering of not so convinced passengers, but Annie and I having sworn by this technique in the past are quietly hopeful.

But alas... it doesn't work, so off we get in a mad rush to the poor buggers working on the customer support desk who were happily filing their nails and having a good gossip before the crowds of fed up, tired folk with missed connections rock up with their demands. The man in green who got there first looking smug and watched as time went on and people realised they would miss their cruise, or their gig, or their granny's surprise birthday party. An hour or so of queueing but in happy spirits getting to know each other we finally get to the front, then back home again for us.... and we will do it all again at 4.50pm, but via Paris.

3 days to go...

So.. the beginnings of my first blog. Setting it up is one of the many millions of things I have to do before I leave on Sunday.