BY Nkosazana Ngwadla
As part of his year-long Artist-in-Residence (AIR) programme at the University of Johannesburg, playwright Mike van Graan has created My Fellow South Africans, a multi-sketch satirical revue in the tradition of his award-winning works Pay Back the Curry and State Fracture. Van Graan plans to tour his latest one-person revue around the country for at least a year to contribute to the themes that will shape the 2024 elections, and use the opportunity to undertake research into satire as a form of discourse, the evolution of a creative piece of contemporary social commentary over an extended period and alternative distribution models, with the ambition to perform the work in non-conventional spaces, including people’s homes!
Having premiered at ARTSCAPE in May 2023 where it initially had a three-week run, the season for My Fellow South Africans was extended by four weeks after the last week of the premiere season sold out.
The talented Kim Blanche Adonis performs this solo piece that combines comedy, singing, poetry and drama through sixty minutes of high energy and focus, and has earned much critical and audience praise for her talent, technical skills and commitment.
Building on the direction of some of the sketches by Rob van Vuuren and Daniel Richards in previous incarnations, Van Graan also directs this revue that includes older, adapted and new sketches, thereby expanding his creative involvement in the project and adding this to the producing and marketing roles that he generally plays in getting his works to the stage.
The same creative team has evolved an earlier work – He Had It Coming – also a multi-sketch piece, into a revue that focuses on the scourge of gender-based violence and its related themes. It is aimed particularly at high school learners and students to catalyse education and debate around this pandemic.
My Fellow South Africans has resonated with audiences across the board, touching on nerves with which many in our country can identify. Academics and NGO leaders, teachers and corporate CEOs, students and retirees – all have praised the work as tapping into our current anxieties and frustrations while allowing us a moment of catharsis and hope.
Image and source: UJ
