Chapter 11 of the Bowling Club. New work by Vleis, Rys & Aartpappels.

Text by Saartjie Botha
Design and directed by Jaco Bouwer

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After a long absence from performing on stage, two of Stellenbosch’s most well-known and respected theatrical directors, Marthinus Basson and Juanita Swanepoel, are treading the boards once again in Saad, a play by Saartjie Botha. Saad is directed by Jaco Bouwer who was recently selected as Standard Bank’s Young Artist of 2008 in the drama category. As artistic team, Botha and Bouwer can also take credit for the award-winning play, Altyd Jonker, produced by their company Vleis, Rys & Aartappels. This production house has, over the course of the past five years, become synonymous with richly layered, quality drama productions.

Saad has a formidable cast which includes, apart from Basson and Swanepoel, actors Nicole Holm, Stian Bam, Altan Ungerer, Yoliswa Nkolose and Thembeka Sivanjana. The soundtrack for the production was specially composed by Braam du Toit and includes work by musicians Zorada Temmingh, Floors Oosthuizen and Ilse Minnie.

The plot of Saad centres on the death of a farmer and how his surviving family are forced into making drastic decisions about their farm’s future as a result of his passing. Upset by the sudden loss of the patriarch, each family member is confronted by issues such as identity, origin and the loss of one’s bond with the land. The drama also explores the political dynamic of the power relationships between parents and children within the confines of the family structure. Saad is not an overtly political play but functions within the complex context of land ownership issues in today’s South Africa.

The play’s run in Stellenbosch is made unique by its unusual venue: the premises of Agrimark (The old WPK). The co-operative’s old workshop will, for the play’s two week run, be transformed into a theatrical space and while the play is not site specific, there is little doubt that this particular venue will create sensory experience bar none.

Agrimark is on the corner of Dorp and Adam Tas Streets in Stellenbosch. To get there, turn out of lower Dorp Street into Stellentia Lane (in the direction of the Rupert Art Museum), drive past the museum premises and then right into Agrimark’s parking area.

16 November
Performance starts at 20h15
For enquiries call: 082 070 6066.
R100 per ticket

Mystery and secrecy shrouded the next chapter as Bowling Club members and their teams of 4 others were told little else but to be in a set location on the evening of September First, wearing black and to wait to be picked up. They were then collected by transporters, blindfolded for the next three hours, driven across Cape Town, taken into a building, up lifts, seated, treated to an amazing, intense soundscape performance by international sound artist Francisco Lopez and then led back home – still blindfolded.

This event was organised by Michael Streatfield, Nikki Olckers and James Webb with support from Redbull. James’ involvement was covert to maximise the unexpected by the participants. More details and documentation to follow…

THE BOWLING CLUB, VOLUME 1, CHAPTER 1

The Bowling Club, a new Cape Town-based cultural club launches this month with a series of international music collaborations, lectures and performances. Bosnian-born, Swiss-based accordionist Mario Batkovic, radical Swiss performance group VELMA, independent global soundscape initiative Norient and local musicians including Adamu, Kesivan Naidoo and Wesley Rustin will be performing in the club’s first meeting.

Solo Balkan Sounds
Date: Thursday 25 January 2007
Venue: St Georges Cathedral top end of St Georges Mall
Time: 17h30 – 18h30
Entrance: Free and open to the public
Acclaimed Bosnian-born, Swiss-based accordion player Mario Batkovic (www.batkovic.com) presents a solo concert featuring his trademark blend of gypsy jives, Balkans blasts, tender classical strains and some funky twists.

Sounds from the edges, radical performances & cross-cultural musical collabs
Date: 27 January 2007
Venue: Crusader Bowling Club (next to Sea Point Police station)
Time: 17h30 for 18h00 Sharp
Entrance: R50
Dress: Bowling
Programme:
18h00: Swiss-based Norient (www.norient.com) present Soundscapes From The Edges, a sound lecture focused on politics, propaganda, war and exoticism in the contemporary music.
20h00: Accordionist Mario Batkovic in collaboration with Angolan-born Afro-Latin-jazz fusion vocalist Adamu, jazz double bassist Wesley Rustin and firebrand jazz drummer Kesivan Naidoo.
22h00: Swiss experimental band, Velma (www.velma.ch) in an extravagant audio-visual assault that combines everything from neo-gothic dark theatricality to ultra-modern high-concepualism, 70s kitsch-camp shock-art schlock and post modern electro-art wit.