State theatres XOVA takes Gold at national festival
“The Standard Bank Ovation Awards celebrate artistic innovation, excellence, the exploration of new performance styles and the courage to start new conversations.”
SA State Theatre CEO Dr Sibongiseni Mkhize has congratulated the XOVA production team for winning the Standard Bank Gold Ovation award last week.
Xova scooped gold during its showcase at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda.
The performance art piece written and directed by Joseph Komani was said to have topped the festival’s fringe programme which was made up of hundreds of productions across genres.
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“The council and management of the State Theatre are delighted about this honour that was bestowed on XOVA. The Gold award is a testament to this theatre’s unwavering commitment to nurturing South African theatrical talent as part of embracing its pan-African identity.”
Mkhize said the theatre’s perseverance and determination to become a space for young people to creatively express themselves shone through in this award.
“Congratulations to the cast of XOVA and everyone who has been involved in the process of making this success possible,” he said.
The National Arts Festival said, “the Standard Bank Ovation Awards celebrate artistic innovation, excellence, the exploration of new performance styles and the courage to open new conversations at the National Arts Festival.”
Komani said he was overwhelmed by the achievement.
“It was a very tough journey. It is also an achievement to have performers who fully understand the vision because when it comes to such show, you really must channel everyone in the same direction which is winning.
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“I also feel that it was an achievement to tell an African story with a language such as Xhosa and have different audiences (white and black) understanding the story without using any projection of interpretation.”
XOVA is a Xhosa word denoting the mixing of dough for baking.
The piece brings to stage, the endured hardships of solo parenthood and father absenteeism to examination.
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