Supportive words from a fellow thespian!

Today, my wonderful Google Alerts gave me the heads up about an article recently posted on Artslink that clocked FTH:K.  On reading it, I was moved by the sentiments behind the words and am grateful to Thami Mbongo for this recognition of our work (kinda ironic, given that the article is entitled Theatre that changes lives not for recognition, but hey! I’m sure Thami understands).  You can click here to read the full article, but of FTH:K, he says:

“FTH: K (From the hip * Khulumakahle)
The extraordinary work that Tanya Surtees and Rob Murray have done with their lovely company – they have decided that they needed to cater for the people that are forgotten in a way in our theatre circle.

The company focus is to offer access to theatre training for the Deaf community and to prepare Deaf and hearing performers for entrance into the professional theatre industry.

It is high time that our theatre makers and theatres at large do think about offering work to the Deaf community artists.

The success of the company productions and the efficient way they run their company is outstanding and should be applauded. The company have won Arts and Culture Trust’s Award for Cultural Development Project of 2005 among others.

I wish the company’s goal does come true as they wish to open South Africa’s first Deaf and hearing Integrated Theatre Training Centre in Cape Town.

I salute the FTH: K and would like to say we as young aspiring theatremakers who have dreams of opening their own theatre companies one day – we do learn a lot from your company. Keep up with the great work.”

Thanks, Thami!  Great respect to you for standing behind the companies like ours.

Well Done, Janni!!

For those of you who don’t yet know, Janni Younge has just been awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Theatre.  Yes, this is the same Janni Younge who did the awesome masks for Pictures of You and QUACK!

"We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Janni for being a recipient of this prestigious award," says our Artistic Director, Rob Murray. "It is a fitting acknowledgement of her immense talent. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Janni for the work she has done, locally and internationally, to raise the profile of visual theatre, helping to make it accessible to a wider audience."

The Standard Bank Young Artist Awards acknowledge young South African artists who have displayed an outstanding talent in their artistic endeavours.

"Janni has already enjoyed a prolific career and we are honoured to have collaborated with her on various projects over the years," says Murray. "Working with Janni, she brings with her not only an immense skill and original, unconventional thinking, but also an exacting eye combined with a disarming honesty – all hallmarks of a great artist.

"We are privileged to be presenting masks created by Janni as part of our performances of QUACK!, which runs at the Intimate Theatre in Cape Town from next week and which will tour in March next year to QuestFest in the USA, a 2-week international festival celebrating visual theatre.

"The expert masks and puppets created by her for Pictures of You formed an integral part of the exciting, arresting imagery in the production, and have played a huge part in the success of the production."

"Janni, on behalf of the FTH:K team, we salute you!"

QUACK! with masks by Janni Younge will be performed at the Intimate Theatre in Cape Town Tuesdays – Saturdays from 10 – 21 November 2009

Pictures of You with masks and puppets by Janni Younge returns by popular demand to the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio from 1 – 13 February 2010

For bookings and further information contact FTH:K on 021 448 2838 or email us on clowns@fthk.co.za.

Check it! Check it!

Click where?

HERE!

Just do it, man!

A moment to breathe and take stock

Last night, Ek Roep Vir Jou Vanaand opened at the Intimate Theatre on Hiddingh Campus to a wonderfully warm and responsive crowd. It’s such a charming production and with only 5 performances in its short run, it is in essence a project packed full of experiential learning for the people involved in it.  If you have ever produced a show, your first show, you will know what we mean.  It’s not just the show that you have to work on.  It’s all the teeny-tiny things that go into the creation of a performance event from page to stage.  Like??  Organising a guest list, programmes, flyers, tickets, an audience, a float, front of house, snacks, wine, a barman, a corkscrew and and and…! All this while making sure the performers have what they need, are doing what they need to do, and that the performance is ready to go up on time every night.  It’s not easy!  I’d like to say that we work haaaaard for the money, but I guess the truth is simply that we work hard!!

Through all of this, balancing full-time QUACK! rehearsals by day, the Ek Roep team has pulled it off and celebrated with an awesome Opening Night.  The FTH:K Management Team has taken a very hands-off approach in the whole process: if the Ek Roep team needed something done, the FTH:K professionals were there.  But it had to come from the Ek Roep crew first.  And to their credit, they took on the majority of the work themselves, wrestling with the beast and coming out triumphant on the other side.  And as we at FTH:K step back and take a breath, just before we launch into the final push for 2009, it’s important to look and where we’ve come from and what we have achieved.  So often our eyes are on that prize over there, in front of us, the one we’re driving towards.  And while that’s very necessary (if not vital) for growth, it’s equally important every now and then to look around at where you are, and back at where you started.  And feel proud.  Last night, we felt proud.  Of everything our small but big-hearted company has achieved.  We seem to be The Little Theatre Company That Could, and that’s a beautiful thing to be involved in.  Oh, it’s all so delicate and we always remind ourselves of how it could turn on its head at any moment, but for now, for this moment of calm, I think that it’s safe to say we are all really blessed to have joined FTH:K on its unexpected, unusual and unpredictable journey!

*grin*

Dominican Arts & Culture Day

6 years ago (can you believe it?!) we started a theatre training programme at Dominican School for Deaf Children in Wynberg.  We knew nothing about the Deaf or Sign Language or Deaf Education but we just figured, “Hey, Deaf kids should be able to do theatre too…” and approached the school to set up weekly classes. We were beautifully naive as to what we were getting ourselves into, and totally clueless as to where it would take us, but such was the beginning of our work in the Deaf community.

Today, 6 years later, the programme has gone from extra-mural, non- compulsory classes with any of the learners who happened to be around on a Monday afternoon to being compulsory, assessed classes with all the senior learners in the school.  It has gone from being managed by Tanya Surtees to being being managed by Deaf company member, Lysander Barends, and sees us taking learners through a series of modules selected from: Creative Movement, Traditional Dance, Physical Performance, Mask Work, Mime, Physical Animation, Theatre Appreciation, Theatre Making, Theatre Design, Identifying Jobs in Arts and Culture, and Capoeira.

Lysander, the first Deaf learner to go through all levels of the Tell-Tale Signs Programme, remembers: “I started at the Wittebome School for Deaf Children in 1990. Playing was always my favourite thing. My friends and I loved spending time together and we ignored the teachers who bored us to death, our world was a lot more fun. I used to hate dancing and performing and on Mondays at two in the afternoon we had our first ‘Performance Class’. There were two people there who were both white. I was very naughty; I had no respect for these new teachers and gave them a hard time! The children asked them to explain what their names were and that’s how I found out the man was Rob and the woman was Tanya. I thought they had very nice names! I couldn’t stop laughing at these two people that taught us Ballet! My friend Ricardo and I hated dancing but our new teachers were very strict with us Deaf kids. When they started teaching, communication was hard; we couldn’t always understand what they were saying! We could see that the communication gap really bothered Rob and Tanya, and they always worked hard with us and made us understand mime. They taught us for four years while I was at Wittebome. Now I work at FTH:K and love going back to Wittebome to teach what I have learnt and experienced with Rob and Tanya!”

Yip!  We couldn’t sign for the love of cheese when we started the programme at Dominican!  It is a tribute to the willingness of the learners to meet us more than halfway (and the fact that we kept going back until they realised that we weren’t going away and they had to engage with us!) that we managed to communicate at all with each other.  But besides the development in our signing, one of the most exciting developments in the programme (although there have been so many!) is the establishment of the annual Arts & Culture Day that we hold at the school.  It first started as a performance by the learners for their peers, just to showcase what they had been working on throughout the year. 

It also allows our FTH:K Trainees the chance  to develop their theatre-making skills by creating short works on Since then, it has grown to include theatre performances, drumming, exhibitions of art and crafts, and even the chance to purchase some of the crafts made by the learners.  Each year gets better and better as the learners pour more of themselves into the event and as the audience for the day grows.  So, if you would like to join us in celebrating the Deaf performers of the future, please come along to

Dominican School for Deaf Children, Clare Road, Wittebome

Tuesday 3rd November from 9:00 am onwards

C’mon…you know you wanna!

QUACK! Back bigger and better than ever before!

FTH:K has been lucky enough to have a couple of accolades under its belt: multiple awards; international invitations; first company of its kind in the country…there are more but we’re starting to blush already…

From the 10th – 21st November this year, with our production of QUACK!, we are trying for a new accolade – namely that of packing more stuff onto the stage of the Intimate Theatre than ever before!!  Seriously.  Ok, it’s not quite the Uno Jam, but dang, that stage is going to be full!  8 cast members, 2 stagehands, 1 live musician, 1 double base, and a 2-foot tower, you have to ask yourself, what is director Rob Murray thinking?!?!

What it does mean is that QUACK! is going to be a whole heap of awesome!  Already with a following from its initial performances at the National Arts Festival, QUACK! is an Afro-gothic fantasy – a visual tale of clown noir and dodgy deeds.  Check it:

A man lies dying in hospital, lost in fever and seemingly unknown illness. In his delirium, he fantasises himself away into a parallel universe, where the roles are reversed and he is a figure of substantial power. Part quack doctor, part motivational speaker, part politician, and part alchemist, he travels the land spreading his sermon of pop psycho-babble and other homilies. With the aid of his long-suffering assistant, and the dour presence of a number of acolytes, he builds up hope and expectation within his audience, and then harvests that hope, extracting from it the very essence of people’s dreams.

But what is he hoping to achieve with the collected dreams and symbols?  And what is he building in his private laboratory? And how long can people be deceived and strung along before turning against the liar?

In a thrilling blend of physical and visual performance, infused with our signature approach to creating accessible, non-verbal performance, QUACK! is FTH:K upping the ante, leaping out of the frying pan and into the pyre.

Step right up! Listen with your eyes!

But maybe you think this is all just FTH:K-propaganda.  Yes, it’s possible, but if that were the case, would people have said this about it after the Fest??

• “A new offering from Khulumakahle – and another success. Join the talented performers in an afro-noir story that requires no words, and start to listen with your eyes as the physical vocabulary and soundscape capture your imagination. This is fresh, exciting theatre – different from anything you’ve seen before.” – CUE

• “If you stepped through the looking glass into one of those little handbills you see on lamp-posts telling you that Dr Muba Ngorhahangee (or whoever) can heal of you of anything from cancer to a broken heart – and can give you muti to win your court case and an abortion on the side, you might find it looks a lot like the surreal Afro-magical world evoked in Quack! ‘Visually compelling’ is the description my fellow theatre-goer came up with. And it fits perfectly. That, and a good dose of New Orleans Voodoo thrown in for good measure. The use of amazingly expressive and evocative masks is a trait they use very effectively, and director Rob Murray appears to love conjuring up theatrical tricks that offer rewarding surprises …Keep an eye on this play. It’ll soon be another feather in the cap for this award-winning company. Oh! And the soundtrack, as is usual for James Webb, is amazing, and if you simply go to see this show for its visuals and its sounds, you won’t be disappointed.” – Artsblog
• “FTH:K Productions takes you into the nightmarish world with frightening masks and a soundtrack reminiscent of an aural hallucination in their non-verbal play Quack! And that’s only day one.” – Zoe Henry 6 July 2009

• “Quack: FTH:K’s newest offering is even more bizarre and bewildering than last year’s Pictures of You. It’s more ambitious, more fantastical and more fraught with weak bits. It’s also likely to be, when it next runs at Cape Town’s Intimate Theatre in September, even more awesome.” – Cape Argus, 14 July 2009
• “Rob Murray and From the Hip: Khulumakahle triumph again!” – Caroline Smart, 14 July 2009

So, what this all points to is the fact that the first version of QUACK! captured people in Grahamstown, despite its need to return to the rehearsal floor for more work.  Now it’s up to you to come along and decide for yourself: what is this new offering all about?

• Directed by Rob Murray
• Masks by Janni Younge
• Sound design by James Webb and Brydon Bolton
• Set and Props by Jesse Kramer
• Costumes by Leila Anderson
• Venue: Intimate Theatre, Cape Town
• Dates: 10 -21 November 2009
• Times: 8:15 pm – 9:15 pm (excl. Mingles Night)
• Tickets: R35, R40, R50 (excl. Mingles Night)
• Specials: Tuesdays is “Twos-days” -  pay R50 for 2 tickets!
• Cast: Liezl de Kock, Lysander Barends, Emilie Starke, Taryn Bennett, Marlon Snyders, Jori Snell, and introducing Tomri Steyn and Christopher Beukes

Contact us if you would like to know more or if you would like to book your tickets.

Ek Roep Vir Jou Vanaand returns

The end of the year for FTH:K means a time of showing you all what we have been up to throughout the year.  Well, all the stuff that we’re allowed to show you, of course!

An exciting project that we have been working on is a performance called Ek Roep Vir Jou Vanaand which some of you might remember from the showcase we did last year.  The piece came out of our Autocourse programme and this year, FTH:K’s leading Deaf performer, Lysander Barends, was thrilled to receive his first individual funding grant from the National Arts Council for this autobiographical performance.

Since then, the Ek Roep team have been hard at work turning the short performance into a full-length work, touring it to schools in and around Cape Town, and preparing it for its short run at the Intimate Theatre from 27th – 31st October.

Performed by Lysander Barends and Marlon Snyders, and directed by Liezl de Kock, Ek Roep Vir Jou Vanaand is an exciting two-hander that takes an intimate and sometimes off-beat look at the many
facets of a father and son trying to make ends meet in antagonizing times. Their humour and relentlessness, coupled with shadow puppetry, soundscapes and non-verbal performance, make these characters and their story a visual gem.

• Directed by Liezl de Kock
• Based on an original idea by Lysander Barends
• Devised by Lysander Barends and Marlon Snyders
• Set design by Jade Bowers
• Venue: Intimate Theatre, Cape Town
• Dates: 27 (preview) -31 October 2009
• Times: 7:00 – 8:00 pm
• Tickets: R20 (preview) & R30
• Cast: Lysander Barends and Marlon Snyders

Contact us if you would like to know more or if you would like to book your tickets.

Kennedy Center Fellowship up for grabs once more

So, if you have been reading this blog regularly (bless you!) you would know that our Company Manager, Tanya Surtees, has been waxing lyrical about her three-year Fellowship Programme at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.  Well, they are calling for applications for new potential Fellows (deadline is December 1st 2009) and we’d like to motivate all you aspiring Arts Managers out there to apply.  It’s truly worth it.  Seriously.

Check it out:

“This fellowship program is designed to provide up to 20 international arts managers with an intensive three-year, four week program on arts management beginning in July 2010. The selected managers will come to Washington, DC, to study arts management at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Through daily classes with Kennedy Center senior staff, seminars, practica, and projects, the fellows will gain practical experience and skills that will be readily transferable to the management of their own organizations. Fellows will be expected to come to the Fellowship with at least one arts management related project that will benefit their home organizations to work on while at the Kennedy Center.

Arts managers with a minimum of four years of experience will be selected for this program. Fellows must be fluent in English. Fellows receive roundtrip air transportation, hotel, per diem, and program materials.

Applications are now being accepted. If you have further questions regarding the program, please contact Joel Hoard at artsmanagement@kennedy-center.org

To apply for this program CLICK ON THIS LINK. You will be taken to a login page. Simply enter your email address. You will also be asked to create a user id and a password. This will enable you to return and update your online application. You will then be taken to an application that will ask you for your contact information, biography/resume, and personal statement.”

Application deadline is December 1, 2009.

Mingles Night is back and better than ever!

 

So, you know us as a theatre company, right?  As a damn fine theatre company no less.  Right??  Right.  But that doesn’t mean that we don’t do other stuff as well that is linked with the awesome theatre that we make.  Enter Mingles Night. 

Given that we believe that going to the theatre should be a social event (as well as mental, visual and emotional stimulation, of course) we devised an evening including theatre, champagne and speed dating.  And single people, of course!  You may remember that we held our first Mingles Night in February during our run of Pictures of You at the Baxter Theatre, in preparation for the impending Valentine’s Day.  Well, we’ve developed it, tweaked it, and made it even better, and on Friday 13th November, alongside our run of QUACK!, we will be holding our second Mingles Night – and it’s going to be a lot of fun!

The evening will include drinks, snacks and great theatre, and of course, Speed Dating – in a more formalised form to last time.  Thanks everyone who gave us feedback from the last event!

Now, you may not be single but we can bet you have friends who are, so tell them, spread the word, because the more people we have, the more chance there is of meeting someone you might want to see more of.

There are only 70 tickets in total up for sale, 35 male/female, and once they are sold, they are sold.  So if you know you want to be there, book soonest!  All tickets are priced at R70 and the event will run as below:

6:30 – 7:00 pm: Registration, drinks and snacks
7:00 – 7:30 pm: Meet & Greet 
7:45 – 8:25 pm: QUACK!
9:00 – 10:00 pm: Speed Dating

To get an idea of who will be there (gender, age etc) please let us know if you are planning to come and how many people you will be bringing. All bookings to be made through the FTH:K office on 021 – 448 2838 or clowns@fthk.co.za

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The Grimstones

I know it’s been a while.  A long, long while.  But we have been unbelievably busy over here!  No excuses for not posting things more regularly, but hey, what can you do.  Employ more people?!  I wish!!  Anyway, there are couple of new posts coming in the next couple of days but for now, I thought you should have a look at this little gem of a piece from Oz – insert rude rugby joke here – while you wait.  The puppets are simply beautiful…