from township to tent

Well, it’s been quite a day....I saw Township Stories this afternoon.
Go to http://arts.guardian.co.uk/edinburgh2006/story/0,,1854717,00.html if you want to read an article about it.
Let’s just say it’s .... harrowing. Took me a good while to come out of shellshock. Before I had read that they call the director “ the Township Tarantino”, I sat in the theatre feeling like I was in Resevoir Dogs. Lots of violence and brutality close up and lots of beautiful music, juxtaposing the action on stage. Music from Enya, Tracey Chapman, Sting, Paul Simon and Louis Armstrong to Zola and other Kwaito artists. Yet again, there is no point in trying to describe this type of theatre in words. It has to be experienced - that is the essence of theatre, is it not?!

And then tonight at midnight, I found myself in The Famous Spiegeltent in the Spiegelgarden, watching La Clique. A burlesque cabaret with circus performers, the amazing rubberman, the skating Willards (who rollerblade and fling each other around on a tiny round patch of stage about 2 metres in diametre!) and other freaks, including the Caesar Twins. Some stuff is outrageous (mostly the things from Berlin!) some is really awesome and some is.... quite gross. Good fun!