FTH:K AUDITIONS

It’s that time of the year again! We are holding auditions for the super-exciting National Tour of OfficeBLOCK. (Sorry, ladies only!)

OfficeBLOCK is a visual, non-verbal, dark comedy.

• Production Type: Professional
• Project length: Full-length (55 mins)
• Production location: National Tour (KZN, GP, FS, WC, EC )
• Company website: www.fthk.co.za
• Director: Jayne Batzofin
• Audition Location: Observatory Community Centre
• Audition Time: 10am – 1pm (The audition takes form of a workshop so please be present for the full time)
• Email: jayne@fthk.co.za

KEY DATES:

• Audition: 23 January 2012
• Rehearsals Start: 13 February – 10 April 2012
• Touring Dates*: 10 – 30 April 2012; 1-31 July; 8 Aug-8 September; theatrical seasons and touring in 2012 *TBC

SYNOPSIS:

OfficeBLOCK is a series of vignettes about life around the office water cooler. The characters stand for sexism, ambition, corruption and a conflict between the individual and the corporation. It is a thought-provoking depiction of the tyranny of conformity and the culture of corporate greed. The four characters are: a junior clerk finding his way in the corporate environment as the newcomer; a female executive fighting against degrading sexism and the Boys Club in the office; an office executive driven by ambition and greed in a militant fashion; and an ageing colleague coming to terms with his life at a desk.

CHARACTER BIO:

Gender: Female

Age: Mid 20′s – Mid 30′s

The character plays constantly between the male/female gender identity, constantly trying to prove her self-worth in the office. She is emotional but never sentimental, and can be equally brash if needs be.

SPECIAL NOTES:

1. This is a physical workshop-audition so please come prepared for movement in appropriate clothes.
2. The candidate must be prepared to be part of the FTH:K activities while on tour. This will/may include workshops, residencies, social events and interviews.
3. The performer can be of any ethnic origin, between 20 and 35 years of age, and of any height. But she must be able to play male and female roles successfully.
4. The performer preferably (but not necessarily) should have skills in the following areas:

• Movement/ Dance
• Clowning
• Physical theatre/performance
• Improvisation and workshopping skills

INTERESTED?

Please send a CV and a current photo to Jayne Batzofin at jayne@fthk.co.za to book your place. For further details, please call 021 448 2838.

“FTH:K is an independent and vibrant theatre company that has enriched the South African theatre landscape with its original and unique approach to visual theatre. Having pioneered itself as a groundbreaking South African theatre company which casts both hearing and Deaf actors, their work challenges and enriches both the artists and the audiences through a combination of visual and performing arts forms such as puppetry, masks and live performance. As trendsetters of this genre in South Africa, it is clearly evident that the current growth in visual theatre on the festival and mainstream circuit is influenced by FTH:K’s prolific style and their ability to continually raise the bar both on excellence and innovation.” – Ismail Mahomed, Director, National Arts Festival

10 of the Funniest FTH:K Moments of 2011.

It’s the little things that count. These are the things that make us family, and in the words of Tink, “If we don’t laugh at ourselves, someone else will.”

10. Our resident Rocky.

Christo ran all the way up these stairs of the Lincoln Memorial doing the Rocky. How could you resist?

9. A Muslim falls off a chair.

Do not, at any point try to sit on the bottom part of this chair and then attempt to make yourself more comfortable: You will slip and fall on your arse, as our online manager found out one day.

8.  A Cold Shower at Midnight

Just before leaving Grahamstown, Tanya, Angela and Ana got a nasty wake-up call. They were pulling the trailer towards the back of the van and as they put it down to fix it onto the ball hitch, the rain water which had been sitting on the top of the trailer after a very wet season at the festival came rushing forward and splashing down on them!

7. Channelling Napolean

Having broken his collar-bone Ugli was to direct Benchmarks with just one arm, and in so doing, became a very tall version of Napolean. Needless to say, the cast wasted no time in outvoting him at every chance by calling: “All in favour raise your right hand.” (See the picture with Ugli on the far right, just..trying..to..play..with!)

6. Finding the perfect nickname for Gali

Nuff said.

5. That time ‘Sober-Dan’ nicked the mirror on the hired car.

So we’re leaving the Naledi’s, pretty smashed after going through the whole ceremony thinking that we were nominated for all these awards and travelled all the way to JHB, to win nothing, when right at the very end, they announce a brand new category for Best Emerging Company, which we win. At this point the highs and lows are swallowed with a lot of spirit-s, making most of us incapable of driving. When we finally left, our designated driver, our sober Dan, our most capable and responsible member of our team at the time, got behind the wheel and slowly reversed the hired-car’s side mirror straight into a pole.

4. One breezy night, a 6-foot tall man changed a tyre in a kilt.

To add to the car woes of the Naledi night, the car also had a slow puncture and needed a tyre change. Who better than a 6-foot tall, strong man, in a kilt?

3. “Does André have an accent?”

Tink: Angela, does Andre have an accent?

Angela: Well, he is Afrikaans.

2. “It’s a Blowjob Tart”

Tanya brought milk tart to the Pot Luck in DC. When asked what it was, she signed “Milk Tart”. The South African sign for “milk” is the same as the American sign for “blowjob”. Blowjob Tart – a traditional South African dessert.

1. When Rodney from Benchmarks spent a little too much time in the park.

For the opening of Out the Box Festival, a puppet procession was organised to walk through Obz and finish on the Village Green, i.e. the park opposite Spar where the bergies take lunch. That was where Rodney ran into the Queen of Obz who fell head over heels for him and tried to bag her prince. The video is priceless and so worth the bandwidth. Watch how Daniel who plays Rodney goes to find his real wife for safety!

6 Things You Didn’t Know Went Wrong on Stage

What would theatre be if we didn’t have to constantly remind ourselves that the show must go on, battered, bruised or blind. Here are some of the things which kept us very much on our toes.

1. The Fire Extinguisher Which Wouldn’t

During a performance of Benchmarks at the National Arts Festival, the policeman came out with a fire extinguisher to put out flames, only the pin had not been released, and seconds before the cue, the problem could not be understood, leaving the masked-performer to enter onto stage wildly mimicking a working fire extinguisher.

2. “Turn your flipping phone off! What? Oh…”

During Pictures of You an obtrusive cellphone went off and before the director could evil-eye the alleged perpetrator in the audience, he recognised the ringtone and realised the sound was coming from backstage…

3. Flip Fail

Christo normally completes an impressive back-flip in Shortcuts, except for that one time in America, where he fell on his head, before dusting himself off and carrying on.  Fortunately, his ego was more bruised than anything else.

4. “That bandage was not just part of the show”

Thumeka performed in Benchmarks with an incredibly sprained wrist but  soldiered on through the cold weather in Grahamstown.

5. Tanya Heywood: The Super Sub.

It was just not Thumeka’s year; just before the run of Benchmarks at Out the Box, she was in a car accident which left her on crutches. Instead of pulling the show, Tanya Heywood was called in to replace Thumeka and learned the piece in less than a week. The show went on to win the Handspring Puppetry Award for Best Puppet Manipulation.

Try that for awesome.

6. Blindman’s Bluff

Despite being amazing mask design, the masks for Benchmarks proved to be very difficult to see through, and when Rob’s lighting design was brought into play, the actors were sometimes walking blindly through the set.

And that, boys and girls, is why rehearsals are so important.

5 Songs We’ll Remember 2011 By

Because sometimes, songs go where Dear Abby and Dear Diary never could.

1. Cee Lo Green – “Fuck you”

2. The Cat Empire – “The Wine Song”

3. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (the musical) – “Wig in a Box”

4. Noah and the Whale – “5 Years Time”

5. Evelyn Evelyn – “A Campaign of Shock and Awe”

FTH:K’S Top 10 for 2011

 

It’s that time of year where we reflect on what made our blood boil… in a good way. Outside of a regular overdose on Tom Waits, Grapetiser, coffee and whisky, here is a list of the shows that got us in that wide-and-crazy-eyed inspired mood.

Annnnnd…in alphabetical order, because any other order would have caused unnecessary upset…

Anubis

By Uta Gebert, performed at Out the Box Festival, Cape Town, September 2011.

This piece was nominated for Best Production at the Out the Box Festival. The puppet was amazingly agile and created from a real skull of a jackal! This puppet may represent the afterlife and mummification but he was a pretty groovy guy dancing with the scales of judgement, much like a DJ and his turntables.

It was a master-class in puppetry.

Burn Makwerekwere Burn

Written Blessing Hungwe, directed by Giles Ramsay, performed at the opening of the Harare International Festival of Arts, Harare, March 2011.

This piece was about two guys from Zim, one Shona, one Ndebele trying to make a life for themselves in South Africa. It proved quite inspirational in the run up to National Arts Festival and Benchmarks. Outside of the theme alone, Rob saw this at the opening of HIFA and ranked it one of the best he saw this year.

Jesus Christ Superstar

A Pieter Toerien Production, performed at Theatre on the Bay, Cape Town, May 2011.

Just because.

Hol

By Nicola Hanekom, directed by Fred Abrahamse, performed at Artscape, Cape Town, October, 2011

Nicola Hanekom stayed on the treadmill for the whole 70 minutes, totalling a distance of 8km’s for every night’s performance. Outside of shaping pretty firm buttocks on the job, the piece itself, entirely in Afrikaans, was just so powerful and elegant. Hanekom’s piece demonstrated just how much could be done on a set as small as a treadmill.

Hotel Paradiso

By Familie Flöz, performed at the Harare International Festival of Arts, Harare March 2011

This was the reason our creative team travelled all the way to Harare: they heard that Familie Flöz would be performing. Hotel Paradiso is a full-mask comedy, which is a flippin’ awesome deal for our dark clowns. Being exposed to international mask-workers is what our clowns call research.

Memory of How it Feels

Written by Neo Muyanga, directed by Ina Wichterich, Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, February 2011.

Featuring Remix’s Andile Vellem, a Deaf dancer, it was always on our list of shows to see. Though, come now, we should stop seeing him as “that Deaf dancer,” because the guy is just an amazing dancer, however abled. Neo Muyanga’s story was the bringing to life of visual poetry in its movement: a sight that should have been seen by everyone.

Monkey Nuts

By Matthew Ribnick, directed by Geraldine Naidoo, performed at the Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, September 2011.

Photo by Louis Chetty

This one caused a slight uproar when we put this list together. Some said, “Hell no,”  while some said, “Hell yes, and if you’re naming JC Superstar, I’m calling Monkey Nuts”. And so order was restored in the kingdom. To defend Monkey Nuts, which is arguably a more commercial piece in the world of fringe theatre, credit was given to Mattew Ribnick’s incredible comic timing and his fine-tuned ability to swop between characters. All in all, he is a funny guy and that, has confirmed his place on our list.

Mr Cat and the Jackal

A band, not a production, but with a phenomenal performance quality that they were deemed worthy to credit as one of the best productions we have seen this year. 

As a piece of live performance, Mr Cat and The Jackal are a five-man band with couple a of guitars and bunch of weird and sometimes home-made instruments. They are folky-pirates from Stellenbosch with a great stage presence and unfaltering voices. We love them.

Check out this awesome bit of puppetry done by Ysterfang Puppetry for the music video, “Bad Man He Comin’. ” Wearing their conspiracy of clowns caps, Rob, Jayne and Liezl got to collaborate with them at the opening of the Bijou Open Arts studios. Sweet dream come true!

Red Earth

A collaboration between Laway Theatre Company and Speeltheatre Holland, performed at Theatre Arts Admin Collective, December 2011.

It’s always difficult to do a popular story over but this was an incredibly powerful retelling of Nongqawuse’s story; the Xhosa prophetess who caused one of the greatest tragedies in Xhosa history. The directors of Speeltheatre have been running their company for 40 years and their impressive track record just shined through, not to mention the wealth of South African experience on stage with the likes of Tau Qwelane and  Macebo Mavuso. For this short run in Cape Town, the workshop trainees from UNIMA were worked into the piece, check the clip to see a bit of their awesome rehearsal.

Out the Box Festival : Reading out of the Funders

Jason Potgieter and Beren Belknap introducing the funders with puppets.

Right, so this photo (taken by Luke Younge) is actually from the production of ‘Ouroborous, another awesome production, but Jason (left) and Beren (right), outside of being talented puppeteers, are two funny guys with a great rapport that made the reading out of funders a highlight of the opening ceremony at Out The Box.  Using the puppets from ‘Inja ka Vuyo’, a dog and a big green monster, they may have pissed off a few of the funders when they ridiculed unlabelled logos, but for the rest which were labelled, the funders were actually remembered and not just a boring part of ‘what-had-to-be-mentioned.’

Bravo B ‘n J! More like this!

Exciting new changes!

Officially speaking….

The dynamic young organisation, which this year celebrated its sixth birthday, moves into the next phase of growth with a strong focus on its education programmes including the Artsbridge International Exchange. In addition, the creative team will enjoy new artistic mentorship under the guidance of company member Jayne Batzofin, who has been with the company since 2009. Batzofin takes over the role of Artistic Director, and overseeing the company’s education and creative output, from founder and current Artistic Director Rob Murray, who is taking up the position of resident director with Janet Buckland’s Ubom! Company in Grahamstown.

“The first six years have been an exhilarating rollercoaster ride,” says Murray. “We have toured extensively nationally and internationally, won multiple awards and developed a ground-breaking theatre education programme for Deaf learners.

“It is now time to consolidate what has been created and build on that foundation to nurture a sustainable theatre training programme that provides opportunities to Deaf learners from all over the country. FTH:K is today an established entity in itself and has at its helm a strong new leadership team to take it into the next five years. “

Murray will be working with Batzofin as part of the handover which will also see Batzofin taking over as South African director of the Artsbridge International Exchange programme. Artsbridge is a two-year skills and cultural exchange project between Deaf and hearing communities in South Africa and the USA. It involves workshops, discussions and the creation of a work with Wings Theatre Company from the USA, which will be performed at QuestFest in Washington DC in March, followed by a national tour of South Africa. Batzofin was part of the team that travelled to the USA this year as part of the first phase of the project.

Company Director Tanya Surtees, who relocated to Washington DC earlier this year, will head up the Artsbridge Exchange from abroad while also working for QuestFest hosts, Quest Visual Theatre. She will remain on with FTH:K in an advisory capacity supporting Ana Lemmer, who joined FTH:K in March, in her new role as Company Director from 2012.

“It remains an honour to work for FTH:K, brokering the Exchange from the DC side and working to get the Company onto the international stage. It is humbling to see how over the years FTH:K has grown bigger than the vision of any one of its members or co-founders, and it is particularly satisfying to see new faces joining the family, fresh voices emerging in both leadership and creative roles, and old faces moving on to tackle new challenges.” says Surtees.

“2012 also marks the next phase of our Tell-Tale Signs education programme. The national tour next year with Artsbridge will include workshops that serve as an audition process for our next intake of trainees. This will be the first time we have been able to potentially offer places to students from outside of Cape Town. 2013 will mark the start of the three-year Deaf training programme, as well as a run of our latest production, Benchmarks, which won a Handspring Puppetry award,” says Murray.

“I am honoured to be working with Ubom! next year and, as a Rhodes graduate who studied under Andrew Buckland, I feel lucky to be returning to my theatrical roots.”

Joining Murray at Ubom! is company member Liezl de Kock who has been with FTH:K since 2006. Fleur du Cap-nominated actress de Kock will continue to perform her acclaimed roles in productions such as Pictures of You, Womb Tide and Benchmarks.

Batzofin graduated from Wits University Cum Laude with a BADA (Honours): majoring in directing and stage and costume design. She first met FTH:K in 2007 but was on her way to study for two years at the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris. On her return to South Africa, she joined the FTH:K team and has performed in and designed their highly acclaimed productions such as Womb Tide and Benchmarks. She has also played an integral role in the development of the Tell-Tale Signs programme as well as devised, designed and directed productions such as Shortcuts for the national schools tour.

“I am looking forward to working with the FTH:K team in my new role and helping to take the company to even greater heights,” says Batzofin. “It is a privilege to take over the mantle from Rob, and build on the outstanding work that he and the company have done to lay the foundations for the next five years.”

*FTH:K is a young, ground-breaking theatre company that works in the field of Visual Theatre. Without a dependency on any one language, its work crosses over cultural and linguistic divides and calls on audiences to “Listen With Your Eyes”. It has already won multiple awards, toured all over South Africa, Germany and Argentina, and in only 6 years, has reached more than 47 000 people.

More than that, FTH:K is South Africa’s premier Deaf and hearing theatre company with the goal of integrating the Deaf into the performing arts world in South Africa. This aim is best illustrated through its unique Tell-Tale Signs programme which is currently training South Africa’s first generation of Deaf artists for inclusion in the professional performing arts industry. There is currently no other project like it (nor has there ever been) running in South Africa.

FTH:K works include its award-winning performances of Pictures of You and Benchmarks (in association with a conspiracy of clowns), GUMBO, and its multi-award-nominated QUACK! and Womb Tide.

Weaving Webs: It’s who you know.

Arts Managers need to network, they need to hustle, they need to work a room, they need to suck up their personal differences and play nice for two very important reasons.

1. United We Stand

If the theatre industry is to grow and gain influence, it must band together to stand up against various policies that might negatively affect our work. For example: The Western Cape Education Department is clamping down on excursion procedures. We as the theatre industry have an important relationship with bringing theatre into schools. How will this affect theatre for younger audiences and what are we doing about it?

2. Work Smart

A well-networked theatre company is able to get more done with less energy. Beth Kanter has started a whole empire just telling people about the importance of the Social Network. It raises the importance of network on the online platform and the significance of collaboration. Many hands make light work doesn’t it?

Last night was the ASSITEJ South Africa annual general meeting where Heather Parr was named as the new chairperson! (ASSITEJ is the umbrella organisation for theatre aimed at children and young people.) A very big congrats to her! The ASSITEJ SA board is made up of many a theatre stalwart in South Africa with Yvette Hardie standing as the Director of ASSITEJ and stepping down as chairperson. Yvette is also the President of ASSITEJ International.

What does this mean for theatre South Africa?

It means we’re on the map, a very important intricate map of influential theatre practitioners and festival organisers worldwide within the ASSITEJ community, outside of just the Edinburgh Festival or Canadian fringe circuit. It also gives South African theatre practitioners a chance to work together to bid for the next ASSITEJ  World Congress in 2017, which would fill every theatre in Cape Town. It means developing our own work for that festival. It means international exposure for our companies. It means South African artists have a close link to the president’s office, to open up the doors to theatre festivals world wide, all 100 plus of them.

For FTH:K, represented by Jayne at the AGM, it’s an opportunity to engage with more audiences world wide, as we have found that our work, though directed at adult audiences, often resonates hugely with young people.

In these trying times, where nearly every theatre company in Cape Town is fighting the good fight for funding, there is another aspect of running a theatre company that we should also focus on, particularly as new arts managers come into the business: the building of networks around your company.

Theatre Arts Managers who think outside of their immediate industry, outside of their rehearsal process, are the ones who seem to be making headway in the field.

Let’s get more of our theatre makers on board. Let’s grow the networks and the industry.

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Cocktail Tomatoes and OfficeBLOCK

OfficeBLOCK closed on Saturday night and after a fantastic run, it was time for a celebration. Opening night catered for a South African and American mix of food that included corn dogs and mielies and mini hamburgers,and popcorn and also sorts of finger-food treats. If you hung around long enough, there were also cream tartlets and mini-pumpkin pies.

For closing night, what was going to be a braai that had both hotdogs and boerewors to again celebrate the Artsbridge journey that OfficeBLOCK would be taking, turned into a bunny chow night: home-made curries, fresh bread, salads and atchar. A solid, filling, tasty meal, that everyone of every diet could enjoy.  There was the option of vegetable curry and meat curry, and an amazing bean and banana salad, all home-made.

YUM!

Often cocktail tomatoes, sliced carrots, little samoosas, tiny chicken wings and meat balls are a safe choice but what can we do to offer our audiences something new and tempting each time?  Do we rather cut the food budget and up the amount of free booze? Or do we continue to fight for the balance between food and drink? What kinds of foods can we arrange that fit out trying budgets, people’s diets and also give our audiences a 5-star welcome? Or will we always be celebrating theatre productions with culinary delights in miniature?

There have been great efforts made by theatre companies in Cape Town and they should get props. The Baxter Theatre had a huge make-over earlier this year and had an amazing variety of food, with various cold meats, breads, cheeses and jams, and biscuits that came with little tubes of chocolate or almond syrup you could flavour it with. Not to mention the cocktails that could be a little stronger with a wink and a smile to the barman – or so we heard.  The opening of KKNK was another hit: champagne that kept on coming and trays of quiches and skewered chicken being delivered by waiters  continuously. GIPCA gets a note in our books for a wonderful presentation of bread and cheese at the series of talks they held.

Theatre isn’t just about getting a bum on a seat. It’s about the entire experience being given to the patron. Considering that the audience has to drive all the way to your venue (petrol) possibly get someone to babysit the kids (cost), maybe have dinner or drinks with the people they’re with (another cost), purchase a ticket (minor cost), and then tip the car guard, it totals up to more than just the cost of a ticket. The full theatre experience will up the value of your production, ensure that your audiences will return and best of all, tell their friends about it.

To good food and even better theatre experiences: bon appétit!

OfficeBLOCK: Halfway through

OfficeBLOCK Badges VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

‘OfficeBLOCK’ ends tomorrow night where we will have a braai afterwards, small and cosy and keeping us down-to-earth with the people who love and support us the most, before we take the piece off to America, to share and build it with the amazing people at Wings Theatre of Quest Visual Theatre.

So far the response has been great. Here are two reviews, by Rory Berry and Mariana Malan and if you’re not so clued up on Afrikaans, the Google Translate application gives you the jist of what Die Burger is getting at.

Even though our beloved Tink couldn’t make it, she sent her words with Ana and filled the air with her spirit.

As a draft for the final piece that will be made for QuestFest (US) and National Arts Fest (SA) 2012 the piece is showing a strong foundation. For this very short run, we’ve opened ourselves right up for feedback from our audiences. We’ve made space for the patrons to comment in on our foyer display, or in private with the director after the show. The work is, at the end of the day, about the audience, so who better to give us feedback? The audiences have this week been made up of new faces, press and the backbone of FTH:K’s sanity, the FTH:K Family.

The FTH:K family, which originally started out as actual family members, has grown to include supporters of the work, from public, the press, collaborators and contributors. We hope that in the months to come, these characters in our community will be of the American variety too. Check these family photos by our amazing publicist Christine Skinner:

Just two more performances left! Our trainees really showing their mettle. Come see! While you’re at it try get your hands on our OfficeBLOCK’ badges, they’re selling like hot cakes!