From table talk to Bosman

Christina Kennedy and Zingi Mkefa are off to the 10-day National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, which starts on June 30.

MAIN PROGRAMME:

The Table (also at Market Theatre, Joburg, August 3 - September 18

Books such as Eat, Pray, Love have explored the relationship between relationships and food. Now we have a play set around a dinner table, devised by Standard Bank Young Artist Sylvaine Strike in collaboration with the actors and dramaturge Craig Higginson - and, in true Strike style, we can expect a family reunion meal fizzing with quirky idiosyncrasy . Top cast includes Annabel Linder, Brian Webber and Karin van der Laag. - CK

Death of a Colonialist (also at Market Theatre, Joburg, September 2 - October 16)

Greg Latter's drama is about a passionate South African history teacher caught off guard by his own capsizing life. After its Joburg run this year, it scooped Naledis for best director (Craig Freimond), best performance (Jamie Bartlett) and best production. - ZM

FRINGE PROGRAMME:

Sie Wiess Alles

Seemingly undeterred after having his Fleur du Cap Award for best performance in a one-person show whisked away from him as a result of an "admin error", James Cairns is back with a bang. He returns in the fantastically funny one-man comedy Dirt and premieres his self-penned drama, Sie Wiess Alles, about an SS officer interrogating a mysterious young woman. - CK

Door (also at Out the Box Festival, Cape Town, September 3-11)

A collaboration between Ubom! Eastern Cape Drama Company and the Dutch-born performer Jori Snell of Baba Yaga Theatre, this production invites us to "step through the 'door' into a mesmerising labyrinth of visual feasts". This collaboration is likely to be magical. - ZM

WILD CARD:

Mafeking Road

Tara Louise Notcutt and The Pink Couch company are among the talented young theatre lights to watch this year. Notcutt's award-winning ... miskien is back at the fest and her adaptation of Herman Charles Bosman's Mafeking Roadpromises "Bosman as never seen before" in a production that melds physical theatre and comic-book style. Could this see crusty old Oom Schalk Lourens colliding with pop culture? - CK

Planet B

Actor, writer and director Mongi Mthombeni starred in The Butcher Brothers at last year's festival, which walked off with the Gold Ovation Award, as well as a Naledi for best cutting-edge show. Now he plays opposite Kyla Davis in Planet B (set "among the dunes of post-2050 Earth") which they wrote with Helen Iskander, who also directs. Curious to see where this star will lead us now. - ZM