The Week & Beyond

Plenty of drama, in life, on stage, in the heavens

RIP Athol Fugard: Legendary South African playwright Athol Fugard died yesterday. Best known for his deeply insightful plays about apartheid, Fugard’s work will live on as an important, evocative and emotionally charged record of a time and a system that ordinary history books will always struggle to articulate in a meaningful way. His work was essential viewing for most of us. RIP to a legend of South African conscience and theatre.

A few of our reviews from the past: Not just another play about apartheid, It is my story … and it is yours, dammit!, Of another plague, sometimes forgotten

And the Daily Maverick’s obituary: Death of an icon

Fugard certainly leaves behind a thriving theatre scene in South Africa. From this Friday, March 14, until March 22, the 15th annual Baxter Zabalaza Theatre Festival takes over the Baxter Theatre Centre. Invading all the Baxter’s spaces to create a festive atmosphere, this festival sees community theatre groups presenting their plays on a professional platform. Approximately 50 new theatre works, many of them in indigenous languages, are created annually.

As part of the festival’s evolution and in honour of its 15^th birthday, The Baxter has curated the festival for the first time, commissioning 15 productions and partnering with highly respected theatre-makers as mentors to the artists. This year’s programme, with the theme Make Your Mark, includes drama, children’s shows, comedy, poetry and Jazz in the garden on Sunday. Bookings at Webtickets

Faustus in Africa is on at the Baxter until March 22. We highly recommend you see it and not just for the pleasure of seeing the awe-inspiring work of South African geniuses (William Kentridge, Handspring Puppet Company, Jennifer Steyn, Atandwa Kani, Wessel Pretorius and end and).

Review: The Faustian bargain, a tale for all times

For some real-life drama, all eyes will be on Parliament on Wednesday March 12, when Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is due to deliver South Africa's 2025 Budget Speech. The speech was postponed at the last minute on Budget Day, February 19, due to disagreements within the Government of National Unity over a proposed 2% increase in value-added tax (VAT), which don’t seem to have been resolved.

We think it is a terrible idea, which will hit the poorest hardest, but then we are bleeding heart liberals who have no idea how to balance the books. A little birdie/our guy on the inside told us that the rest of this Budget compensates the poorest third of South Africans in other ways, which effectively ring-fences them against any negative impact. Let’s hope it gets resolved pronto and as painlessly as possible.

And for those who continue to feel dazed and confused by what is happening across the Atlantic and the global car crash at our door here is some food for thought:

A global perspective that looks like a very good read is: The Challenges of Democracy, a collection of essays by Jonathan Sumption, which explore the key challenges facing liberal democracy around the world today, Or the dangers of the tyranny of the majority, as an essay in the FT Weekend described it. FT Weekend is a great weekend newspaper that you can usually pick up in Exclusive Books a few days after publication or even get delivered to you at home (but their SA distribution partners are really not up to scratch and I am loathe to recommend them to anyone).

This hopefully my last update on the Newlands Ravine Fire. I just had to share the very cool time-lapse video made by a guy in my walking group, Christoph. This video, taken from Tamboerskloof using an iPhone 16, shows the Newlands Ravine Fire. It compresses almost 10 hours of footage – from 10.14pm on Tuesday February 25 until approximately 8am on Wednesday 26 – into 33 seconds (one image per second, so a total of more than 35,000 photos).

Newlands Forest is open to the public again. Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) said the forest, including Rhodes Memorial and Devil's Peak footpaths, have been reopened, but the Newlands Contour Path remains closed between Round Table and Newlands Path. TMNP also warned hikers to be extra careful as there will be loose rocks in the burnt areas.

It is really worth following Sanparks on Facebook for updates like the above and for additional treats like the post from last Wednesday about a sighting of a caracal and cubs above Tokai (Photos by Carrington Steyl).

Don’t forget you can make the Volunteer Wildfire Service your selected beneficiary for the Woolworths MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet card.

While still on the subject of exploring our beautiful city, this Friday’s (March 14) Blood Moon, a total lunar eclipse, seems like a good enough reason to plan a walk up Lion’s Head. Even if the actual lunar eclipse ie best viewing will be in the early hours of Friday morning, full moon hikes on Lion’s Head are always fun. As always, though, we will go prepared and be vigilant. If you are going, go in a group and stay together! (Lion’s head is famous for muggings). Take enough water, some sugary snacks in case someone in your group finds the exertion too much (which can happen even to reasonably active people very suddenly), and definitely take a head torch.

This week is your last chance to bid on exceptional contemporary artworks by the finalists' of the Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2025 sponsored by Schroders. This is a unique opportunity to acquire outstanding works while directly supporting artists across Africa. The benefit auction hosted by Strauss & Co. closes on 13 March. Have a look.

Coming soon: Happening at our little ole Indie cinema down the road, the Labia Theatre, on March 28, a 10-year anniversary screening (and Q and A with two of the crew!) of a documentary that follows six women as they set out to row over 8,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, from America to Australia. Buy your tickets for Losing Sight of the Shore and stay after the show for a chat with crew members, Natalia Cohen and Lizanne van Vuuren.

Also, we are keeping an eye on the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, scheduled for April 25 and 26. The festival returned last year after its interruption for Covid was extended thanks to those rolling blackouts that we South Africans euphemistically call ‘loadshedding’ (🤷‍♀️in a city that lights its mountain up night after night🤷‍♀️). The return was hailed by the festival organisers as “triumphant”, but we at Call Off The Search, many-time veterans of the Jazz Fest, have yet to hear a personal account. Please let us know if you went and can recommend it?

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