The Artscape Women’s Humanity Arts Festival is heading for it’s 12th celebration this year with Humanity as the central theme, from 1 – 18 August at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town. The festival focuses on humanity, women and disability.
The objective of the festival is to provide a space and platform for grassroots communities, women from all walks of life and persons with disabilities the opportunity to be celebrated.
On stage, take a trip down memory lane with the colourful Divalicious Dames with drag mime artists Ramsay Davids and Martin Neethling. Bollywood Enchanted will showcase Taare dancers alongside other guest artists, as they bring to life the fabled themes of hope, love and resilience while staying true to all that Bollywood rhythm, colour and vibrancy.
The Absolutely Fabulous Drag Show, back by popular demand with Odidiva Mfenyana as the MC, drag divas Vida Fantabisher, SA’s Got Talent 2016 runner-up Manila von Teez, Kat Gilardi, Jayde Kay Johnson and Angel Lalamore of gay cabaret 3D trio fame, music maestro Camillo Lomard and Basil Appollis holding the whip.
After a sensational sell-out debut at the National Arts Festival in 2016, Ruth First:117 Days dramatises her harrowing, 1963 arrest and detention under the notorious 90-day clause. First became the first white woman to be arrested under this act.
Around the Fire is a unique fusion of theatre, poetry and live music, a uniquely South African story unfolds. Four women with very different backgrounds, Mbali, Faiza, Amber, and Angel find themselves sharing a makeshift fire on a rainy Cape Town evening. Brought together by unexpected circumstances, they form a bond as fierce and temporary as the fire. Mbali, the homeless guardian of the fire, an Eastern Cape ‘refugee’, unravels the stories that brought them there while trying to make sense of her own place in a city that renders her invisible. Liefde is Rooi, an Afrikaans play written by 22-year-old Enrico Hartzenberg, it’s a story of victory in a ghetto community of Cape Town where there is no time for love. No time for regret, just time to survive. Directed by Lee-Ann van Rooi.
Artscape will host a variety of outstanding theatre productions, entrepreneural workshops, health screenings, legal workshops, talks, exhibitions, a humanity walk and more throughout the festival.
Tickets for the festival’s productions are available from Computicket or Artscape Dial-A-Seat on 021 421 7695. Discounts are available for students, seniors and block bookings.
Visit www.artscape.co.za for more information.
Image: The Artscape Theatre