Celebratory end to Musho Fest
The Musho Festival's tenth year celebrations closed yesterday bringing another fun filled week of intimate theatre to an end.
THE tenth annual PANSA Musho! Festival of One and Two person theatre held at the Catalina Theatre in Durban’s Wilson Wharf from 14 to 19 January, was a glorious celebration of exciting intimate theatre.
“We are delighted that Musho! has made it to ten years. It's great when something in Durban sticks – and the support we have had over the past 10 years from both actors and audiences has been fantastic. We were also very excited to have old friends back at the festival this year. Inviting back past winners is our way of acknowledging the success that they had both at Musho! and further afield. It also gives us a chance to reflect on the festival’s growth over its first decade,” said festival director, Emma Durden.
Durden said it was heartening to see that the Musho! audiences have been steadily increasing over the years – with the most popular productions playing to capacity houses again this year. “It is a testimony to the quality of the productions, and to the ever-growing audiences who are excited about seeing new work and actively participate in the process of developing new theatre by giving feedback and reviews,” continued Durden.
An important component of the Musho! Festival is the awards given to deserving productions at the end of the festival. Awards fell into two categories: emerging productions and main festival works.
The main festival saw the audience favourite go to the closing show of the festival: Bru – a high-energy physical-theatre comedy written by performed by Sandi Dlangala and Mikey Frederick von Bardeleben, and directed by Josh Martin.
The runner up was Iain Ewok Robinson with his astonishing spoken word show, Back to Blue Monday – referencing the PANSA initiative to showcase new work – in which he presented his early works. Conceived and performed by Iain Ewok Robinson, with visual artistry by Karen Melissa Logan.
The PANSA Special Mention Award went to the Opening Night production, master story teller, Gcina Mhlophe’s wonderful and hugely personal My Travelling Bag. In this show, Gcina reflects on her own remarkable life story.
In the Emerging Theatre category – The Audience Favourite Award went to The Dress – which looked at a daughter repeating her mother’s secret past… wearing the same pink dress, and which showcased two remarkable performances by Cebo Mdadane and Makhosazana Mkhize in a piece written by Mlungisi Ngidi and directed by Doctor Kheswa and Khulekani Mtshali from Lashona Arts and Creations.
The Suliman Family Selection – an award given by Durban family, the Sulimans, based on the shows they have seen over the festival – went to the charming children’s production The Great Big Enormous Turnip directed by Peter Court and Bryan Hiles and performed by Bryan Hiles and Daisy Spencer.
