The Grahamstown Festival
For the current National Arts Festival Programme please see National Arts Festival Programme.
Grahamstown Festival
It was opening night and adrenalin and lack of sleep were fueling an unhealthy intensity in the house we were staying in. We had arrived in Grahamstown after a ten hour drive which ended with the actors in the back seat trading more elbow jabs and knees to the midsection than in a Thai kickboxing match. We were in Grahamstown, a small town in the Eastern Cape, for the National Arts Festival, a highlight on South African arts circuit occuring at the end of June/ beginning of July every year.
The first thing to know about Grahamstown is that it is absolutely freezing, which only seemed to give the theatrical types more reason for hysteria and mayhem, little dramatic dynamos generating their own internal sources of heat. For the rest of us proper winter clothing is essential. Stretched over about 10 days, the festival is a melting pot of the most brilliant, creative and utterly strange things the country has to offer. At the central market, which serves as the hub for the daytime activities, you’ll be accosted by everything from half-naked hypnotists and hardselling Hare Krishnas to actors evangelising about why their particular play will change your life. The market is also home to a cornucopia of traders selling everything from didjeridoos to cures for arthritis, so it’s a pefect place for unusual gifts. Continued
Article by: SA Travel News Editor
