WOORDFEES IN STELLENBOSCH
Afrikaans festival set to woo the senses
Over the past two decades the University of Stellenbosch Woordfees, which launches its 19th edition this week, has pivoted in several successful directions. It started as a literary festival on campus, but grew into a multidisciplinary event considered a highlight on SA’s national arts calendar. Put together by acclaimed theatre maker and playwright Saartjie Botha, the programme includes far more than the demographics of the host town. Instead, it’s an annual effort to keep conversations and celebrations open on the important issues of race, language, culture and identity. As a discipline that juggles everything — from sights, sounds and smells, to thrills, frights and epiphanies — theatre has always been a great cultural bridge builder. True to form, the 2018 Woordfees theatre component again sees several local and international English plays making their way to the stage in Afrikaans. Set during the last days of the Second Anglo Boer War, African gothic queen Reza de Wet’s Asem is...
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