Such Drama!

We were quite a motley crew: the meat-loving director of Maitisong drove; the extremely kind teacher's aide from the UK; a sixth-form artsy MaP student who was allergic to wheat and dairy; and me, the vegetarian from the US. But we put our differences aside and climbed into the large vehicle, loaded up with our luggage. We drove for 6 hours to get to Bloemfontein, South Africa. After staying over at our driver's daugher's house in Bloemfontein, we embarked on another 6-hour stretch to Grahamstown, and pulled in at about 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon. We gazed around the small town plastered with show posters and walking "festinos". We finally found where we were staying; I stayed with the other MaP student at Victoria Girls' High School. We were led up to our "en suite" room, and stood outside a room labelled "Ironing Room" a bit confused. The irons had been replaced with two cot-like beds, and the bathroom was shared, outside of the room, and didn't lock. After registering a complaint, we decided to make the best of our cupboard, seeing as we'd be out most of the day anyhow.
The first show we went to see was called "Best Man's Speech". A very talented actor performed a monologue of a best man ripping apart the groom during a wedding speech, and moving through the stages of drunkenness at the same time - very entertaining. We followed this show with "Madman Standing", which involved two actors portraying homeless philosophizing men. A good idea, but the script seemed to be a rough draft; it was raw ideas, rather than a smooth plot. After this rather un-stimulating show, we went to a very exciting dinner at the Long Table, a "restaurant" of sorts which only opens during the festival. Church-goers of a certain church set up four loooong tables in their church hall, and cook a variety of meals. This night, for example, I ordered a vegetable enchilada (R45). I paid, and then waited for the staff to dish out a huge enchilada onto a plate, microwave it, and add a big helping of salad. I cut a very thick slice of bread off of a loaf set out for that purpose, and searched for a seat among the crowded hall. We finished up with some late-night jazz, a jam session by some incredibly talented young people (although not everyone in our group shared this opinion!)
On Tuesday, we explored a few art exhibits in the morning, and were very impressed. One of the exhibits, artist Andrew Verster, was having a walkabout, in which the artist gave a talking/tour through his work. Learning about the work from the man himself was very enriching. After the walkabout, I saw an outdoor theater show at noon, which was good but aimed at young children. Ariadne's Labyrinth followed a girl on her journey through a challenge-ridden labyrinth in which she learned lessons from the various animals she encountered. We followed this show with "Puck's Story", an adaption of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". This show was very well done, and also outside, moving around the extensive lawn/garden of a school. The outdoor shows were nice, because at the middle of the day the temperatures were "sweat-shirt weather", about 65 or 70 degrees F and sunny. The nights however descended into frigid cold; well, not frigid in comparison with Massachusetts' winters, about -1 degree Celcius, which is a lot warmer than -1 F!
After Puck's Story, we went to "My Father's Hat, My Mother's Shoes", a one-man show by the drama teacher from MaP. An entertaining mix of magic tricks and narrative acting, the semi-autobiography was amusing and enjoyable. We went to a coffee shop, Dulce, for dinner. The director of Maitisong became rather obsessed with Dulce, where if you spent 80 rand (7 rand = 1 US dollar), you got a free Dulce beanie. By the end of the trip all four of us had hats!
Our next show was a bit more disturbing. "The Hamlet Machine" involved white-dusted scantily clad people writhing on the floor and falling off tables, with intermittent moments of macabre insight, such as "Long live death!" Although it wasn't up the alleys of my companions, I didn't mind it. I don't think I'd miss another show to see it again, but I am very glad that I got to see it. To pick us up, we went to a comedy afterwards. "Chatter" was a bit of a satire about modern communication, and how Internet and cell phone communication can go terrible wrong. It wasn't brilliant per say, but I found it very entertaining and enjoyed it a lot.
We got back to our room at midnight, since Chatter ended at 11:30. We stayed up for another hour talking before collapsing into sleep. But no rest for the weary; the following morning we got up at 9 to drive to where MaP's two art teachers had an exhibit. Their work blew me away; I was incredibly impressed. We saw another street theater production at noon again, this one called "Impisi". Two actors did astonishing imitations of African animals without any props, and delivered the message (once again aimed at a younger audience) of accepting people, even disabled people, because everyone can do something well. This is delivered by a didactic plot of a maimed lion who overcomes his pride to befriend a hyena, and together they become a great hunting team. After this we watched "Jutro", a comedic drama about a man who is sheltering a Jewish actress in his bomb-buried bar in World War II era Poland. "Between Cup and Lip", a portrayal of the relationship between a white woman and her hired help in South Africa, came next. The message was very nice, even if the acting was a bit off at times. In the end, the maid finally finds her voice as South Africa exits apartheid, and gets her own house.
After dinner came the two best shows of the entire festival that we saw. "Spun - The Legend of DJ Tommy Guns" was an original comedy which followed the story of unsuspecting Tommy Guns and his rise to heroism as he is forced to save the world from attacking aliens in a DJ spin-off. And after this great show, we hurried across town (it only took about 20 minutes to walk from one side to the other of the main festival part) to "Spitfire", an amazing production. One man, Ian "Ewok" Robinson, used rap-like lyrical poetry - essential the stringing together of words and sentences - to convey incredible insights into society. It sounds deep, and it was in a way; our mouths were hanging open the entire time at Ewok's talent. He didn't really act as much as deliver his message, but I never wanted it to end. We followed this great show with dinner at the Long Table - fettuccine with leeks, mushrooms, peppers, and cream for me - and eventual sleep in our ironing closet.
On Thursday morning, we went to see a depressing but wonderful exhibit called "Face it: the Stigma Exhibit". The artist had interviewed many varying people and photographed their daily lives, combining visual and auditory media to deliver their raw stories to us. The subjects ranged from homosexuality to child abuse to HIV/AIDS, an many other victims of societal stigmas. This show was followed by "Mouche", an extremely moving one-man play about a girl saved from suicide by a puppet troupe, who she joins, and how the puppets fall in love with her - or how, in reality, the puppeteer falls in love with her. With an incredible actor who managed to not only juggle the various characters of the puppets but also have an astonishingly real fight with another man (played by himself) about Mouche, the girl who wasn't actually played by anyone in the play, simply talked to. One of our party was moved to tears, and we were all at the brink when, at the end, the puppets almost kill themselves because Mouche was going to leave, until the formerly bitter and hateful puppeteer reveals his love for Mouche. This play joined the top three of the festival, along with "Spun" and "Spitfire".
After some shopping time at the Village Green, a large craft fair, and lunch (a massive bowl of Spicy Butternut soup, R22) at a cute little cafe called Chili's, we saw "Jakob", a didactic play about a young man's hatred of light, and his eventual redemption by his adopted parents who reveal to their town that light equals love. Tucan Tucan, a renowned jazz group, was performing after this, so we went to relax and unwind after a hectic schedule of plays. After the concert, we saw "Out of Time", a touching monologue of a man's last words to his son. Although some of his flashbacks to his own childhood were in Afrikaans, the show was emotional and insightful, and definitely worth the ticket. Tickets averaged about R40 (student price) for good shows; not bad at all when you convert it to dollars, but our regimen of five-or-six-shows per day not only took a toll on our mental functionality but on our wallets as well!
Our last day was a bit of a denouement. "Gumbo", our first show at 12 after some final purchases at the Village Green, was definitely unique, in that about four words were spoken the entire time. Made with the deaf community in mind, "Gumbo" told the story of the deaf owner and kitchen boy of a restaurant and their acquisition of a girl through a misguided game of cards. The girl falls in love with the restaurant owner's son, and eventually they escape the oppressive owner and run away together. After "Gumbo" we went to "Kissing Frogs", which was so bad that it barely warrants mention in this account. We were picked up a little bit by "Electric Juju", an original show about an old man who faces a huge force which wants the giant's heart which the man has acquired, and the little girl who gets inexplicably involved. By this time we were completely exhausted and our heads were about to burst from so much drama, but we trekked to "Halo", which had potential to be great but was muddied with some bizarre singing and movement. The message lost in the wailing/singing/dance, we were, however, extremely amused, and managed to work some misguided lyrics into about every conversation on the way home the next day. Our final show was "Butlers and Brandy", a "who-dun-it" in which the audience periodically got to vote on which character was guilty. Although a bit over-the-top with racial jokes (none really offensive, but the author could have inserted some varying humor), it was a good last shebang.
The ride home in the morning flew by, since we had all become great friends during the trip. We laughed, sang, and ate our way back to Gaborone, distancing ourselves from the drama and comedies of the past week with a thirteen-hour drive. I almost cried as I was dropped back at the dormitory; this week was undoubtedly the best of my trip so far. And as we crossed the border back into Botswana, filling up my passport with even more stamps, I filled out the customs' entry form. Shocked, I had to force myself to sadly write "12 days" under "Length of Intended Stay", for although I do miss my friends and family, I'm also making new ones here. And I only have one more weekend to enjoy with them.