Nik Rabinowitz: Comedian
Who is your favourite South African emerging performer? The powerful dancer Mamela Nyamza, who performed her show I Stand Corrected this year in London, and Kelebogile Boikanyo, the inspiring opera singer who made her international debut as Queen Silomo in the Zulu opera Princess Magogo.
What were your favourite performances or shows this year? Yael Farber’s Mies Julie at the Baxter Theatre, because it would make Swedish playwright Johan August Strindberg cringe. I have always liked Farber’s directorial choices and production values, which are brave, raw and gory. But the theme of the play did not resonate with me, especially in its portrayal of the political situation in the “new” South Africa. Strindberg’s play is on class; Farber’s is solely on race. The class issue is more crucial in today’s South Africa. The oppressor today is black. If and when the white man still has the clout to oppress, it is first and foremost the black man’s fault the black ruling elite that has neo-colonial agency and, secondly, global capitalism.
Full story : 2012: A year on stage | Arts and Culture | Theatre | Mail & Guardian.
NOTE:
I Stand Corrected premiered in Cape Town at The Arena at Artscape before moving to London and garnering 5 prestigious awards.
Mies Julie premiered in Cape Town at the Baxter Theatre before showing to acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival winning the ninth annual Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh award.
