The National Arts Festival, which opened in Grahamstown yesterday, has chosen as its Featured Artist of the Year not an individual, but a genre: satire. And the inaugural Artistic Icon of the Year is one of the greatest satirists of them all - Pieter-Dirk Uys, who is staging two new shows (African Times and The Echo of a Noise) and two old ones (Never Too Naked and A Part Hate A Part Love).ComedyIf you need to laugh the beloved country, you can get your bellyful of humour here.Best value for money isThe Very Big Comedy Show, which features seven of the nation's funniest, including Stuart Taylor, Rob van Vuuren and Conrad Koch.Loyiso Gola presents his solo show State of the Nation; along with Koch, he will also be talking about satire in the Think!Fest.TheatreAlan Paton's life is examined in A Voice I Cannot Silence, co-written and directed by Greg Homann, last year's winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Theatre. Tony Jackman, who wrote last year's homage to Emily Hobhouse (An Audience with Miss Hobhouse) is back with Cape of Rebels, an account of Afrikaner poets taking on the British Empire during the Anglo-Boer War.Gay rights are back in the news with the US Supreme Court decision to make same-sex marriage legal. But what's happening back home? Chomi, from Artscape, looks at the trials and tribulations of four Jozi twentysomething gay boys. Similar To imagines a future in which LGBT people are forced to live through computer avatars.MusicThe jazz programme is a chance for legends and newcomers to shine. There's 22-year-old bassist and composer Benjamin Jephta playing songs from his new album, Homecoming, guitar icon Ray Phiri, and Kesivan & the Lights. Beatenberg will be offering catchy tunes about WASPish privilege, but if troubadours are more your style, tune in to Majozi, Umle and Hatchetman's acoustic sessions.DanceThe dance programme is a mix of international and local acts. Bayhead portrays the lives of Durban's South Basin residents.If you're more traditionally inclined, head to the Cape Town City Ballet's double bill - Spring and Fall and Le Sacre - both choreographed by the American John Neumeier...