From the extraordinary to the crazy to the unmissable, KB Theatre Productions is packing up 11 of its favourite productions and is heading off to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

“KB Theatre Productions’ programme at this year’s festival offers something for everyone,” says Simon Cooper. “Having our own venue this year makes this an even more exciting festival and has enabled us to present a varied and strong smorgasbord of plays at the Festival both at our venue and elsewhere. In all, we have involvement in 11 shows at the festival – six at our venue: Glennie Hall and five shows elsewhere.

“The Glennie Hall venue will also boast a new festival eatery, the aptly named Playbox, where, in conjunction with KB Theatre Productions, Port Alfred’s Little Brewery on the River will offer the best breakfast rolls at the Festival, “wurst” rolls the like of which haven’t been seen at the festival before with craft beer, wine, coffee and soft drinks.”

KB Theatre Productions’ programme at this year’s festival comprises the six Glennie Hall based shows, The Snow Goose, El Blanco (James Cairns’ new show),The Old Man and the Sea, Making Mandela, Home, and After Dark in the Groot Marico as well as Vaslav and Mr. Johnson Cooks at the Albany Cabaret Club, Undermined at the Princess Alice Hall [the Cape Town Edge venue], The Incredible Journey with Assitej at the Oatlands Hall and A Man and a Dog which runs at The Highlander.

The shows at Glennie Hall are:

• The Snow Goose: Adapted from Paul Gallico’s moving novel, this story weaves together themes of compassion, loyalty, prejudice towards people perceived as “not normal”, courage, redemption, and above all pure unsullied love which are as valid today as they were when Gallico wrote his extraordinary novel. Combining the soaring vision of director, Jenine Collcott and the prodigious acting talents of James Cairns and Taryn Bennett, The Snow Goose is a classic story that has captured the hearts of young and old readers over the past seven decades. On the desolate Essex marshes and against the background of the miracle of Dunkirk, a wounded, storm tossed snow goose brings a young girl, Fritha, and the reclusive cripple Philip Rhayader together. This is The Snow Goose’s third and last year at the National Arts Festival so don’t miss it this time, or come and see it again “for the sake of auld lang syne”. The Snow Goose is on at Glennie Hall at 9.30 am.
• El Blanco: Gwydion Beynon is the best writer in his apartment complex. James Cairns is the best actor in his road. The result of their combination can only be stupendous or wonderful or both. There might be singing, but it will be loud and over soon. If you cry, it will be because you are entranced and not because you are horrified – unless you are horrified in the right way, in which case, you will be horrified! It could be that you will weep quietly as you remember El Blanco, because that is the kind of performance we are talking about here – from the alpha to the omega, the yin to the yang, the peso to the dollar, you could laugh, you could cry, because El Blanco has it all. El Blanco is on daily at 11 am.
• The Old Man and the Sea: Reviewing Ernest Hemingway’s classic story, the “touching and powerful” story of Santiago, a humble man facing an ultimate challenge, and his faithful disciple yet equal, Manolin, William Faulkner wrote “… this time, he wrote about pity: about something somewhere that made them all: the old man who had to catch the fish and then lose it, the fish that had to be caught and then lost, the sharks which had to rob the old man of his fish; made them all and loved them all and pitied them all. It’s all right.” In the hands of master writer Nick Warren, the visionary director, Jenine Collcott and the unrivalled acting talents of Brendan Grealy, James Cairns and Taryn Bennett, The Old Man and the Sea comes to the South Africa stage in its premiere run at this year’s National Arts Festival. Catch The Old Man and the Sea every day at Glennie Hall at 1 pm.
• Making Mandela: An imaginative journey through the childhood of Nelson Mandela featuring colourful characters, vividly portrayed in beautiful masks, with physical performances supported by emotive sound design and theatrical styling. This is the story of what influenced the rural boy to become the global legend. 1918 marked the birth of Rolihlahla Madiba Mandela as well as the Afrikaner Broederbond, the political / spiritual home of every prime minister and state president in South Africa from 1948 to the end of apartheid in 1994. Making Mandela tells the story of two opposing forces with different upbringings, natures, backgrounds and intentions developed in parallel and destined to one day confront each other in a battle for the ultimate freedom of South Africa for all South Africans. Making Mandela, comes to the National Arts Festival on the back of a successful run at the South African State Theatre’s Momentum Theatre and with added funding from The South African State Theatre. The play, which is a co-production with Hello Elephant, is also part of the 2014 Assitej ‘Inspiring a Generation’ Denmark/South Africa Programme for theatre for youth. Making Mandela can be seen at 3 pm at the Glennie Hall.
• Home: Created by the people who made Below My Feet, and produced by the multi-award winning Here Manje and KB Theatre Productions, Home crosses multiple disciplines. Home is a multi-disciplined work that dips into the minds of three South African women from different generations over the past forty years. By using movement and live original music by the accomplished Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi along with original South African music from Hot Water and Robin Auld, the play explores Penelope Youngleson’s text using three multi-disciplined performers, their simple costumes and a rocking chair. Home can be seen at 5 pm.
• After Dark in the Groot Marico: Welcome, weary traveller. Rest your feet from your long journey, and sit down on the stoep with Oom Schalk Lourens. Bask in the light of the full moon and let him tell you stories of love, music, and a little bit of magic. But beware, young traveller: all good stories have a dark side … After Dark in the Groot Marico is the second chapter to the critically acclaimed and award-winning Mafeking Road, which premiered at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, in 2011. Andrew Laubscher and director, Tara Notcutt, use physical theatre, and little else, to weave a world of wonder and magic, as they take you on a journey into the Marico’s dark side … After Dark in the Groot Marico is on every evening at 7 pm.

Other KB Theatre Productions shows at the National Arts Festival are:

• A Man and a Dog: Featuring the Fleur du Cap nominated Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi  who is looking back as a father to his own children; the play makes use of oral tradition, song, instrumentation and physical theatre to weave together a retelling of our collective family as South Africans. A rediscovery of ourselves. A remembering of what it means to be of this country. Catch A Man and a Dog at The Highlander on July 2 at 6 pm, July 3 at 2 pm, July 4 at 8 pm, July 5 at 4 pm, July 6 at 10 am, July 7 at 6 pm, July 8 at 10 pm, July 9 at 4 pm, 10 July at 8 pm and 11 July at 12 noon.
• Vaslav: Vaslav Nijinsky was a visionary and daring performer who changed people’s perceptions of male performers and of dance in general. For nine years, he was the most admired ballet dancer in the world. Labelled ‘The God of the Dance’ by adoring critics, the star of the Ballet Russe company danced for the last time aged 28, in 1919. Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, he spent the next 30 years of his life in and out of mental institutions. Such was the impact of his short career, that his legend still captivates audiences 100 years later. Based on Vaslav Nijinsky’s own diaries, and the world he lived in Vaslav blends together an intoxicating combination of original and period music, with dance and video. Set in a mental asylum when Vaslav is an older man, his story unfolds in vivid fragments of memory and flashbacks to his past. Vaslav will be performed at the Albany Cabaret Club daily at various times.
• Mr. Johnson Cooks: Take a dash of Godfrey Johnson, South Africa’s premiere cabaret artist, mix in a piano and you have a sure fire recipe for success – Mr. Johnson Cooks is a new musical comedy cabaret about cooking featuring Godfrey Johnson and a supermarket of new characters all at discounted prices – it is all about food and cooking and life, and it’s funny.. MasterChef meets music? Catch Mr. Johnson Cooks at the Albany Cabaret Club.
• Undermined: Winner of a Standard Bank Ovation Award for Theatre in 2014, Undermined is directed by multiple award-winning Tara Notcutt, and features Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, Luke Brown and Stefan Erasmus. Combining comic book and African storytelling, Undermined tells the true tale of Madlebe, an ordinary man with an extraordinary gift, who came from Mozambique to find a job and make a better life for his father and wife to be. However his unique talent of a finely tuned sense of hearing leads to some interesting developments along the way. Told against the backdrop of urban Jozi and the deep of the mines, it is a story of hope, perseverance, friendship and an unexpected hero that captures the hearts of audiences everywhere. Undermined appears as part of Cape Town Edge at the Princess Alice Hall daily at 11.30 am.
• The Incredible Journey: A new show presented by KB Theatre Productions and Here Manje, premiered at Fringe World in Perth, Australia and has now as made its way back home to South Africa for its first showing. The Incredible Journey follows the story of Tommy, a typical school boy. Tommy lives an average life, he has loving parents, he is well mannered and at school he is experiencing his first crush. The sudden arrival of a new learner in his class marks the start of Tommy’s life changing journey. Tommy and the new learner do not see eye-to-eye and conflict between them escalates quickly. Tommy finds himself between a rock and a hard place, despondent and alone. He has all but given up hope and as a last attempt at salvation goes to the only place he knew would provide some answers: the library. See it at the Oatlands Hall at 10 am or 2 pm.