c and m

We spent the first week (ish) of July in Grahamstown for the National Arts Festival, with A & C, as we did two years ago.

It was ace! We rented a house in a much more central location this time, which, despite some ups and downs was a great choice. The house itself was… strange.  Let’s just say that we spent some time being scared and some time sleuthing around what was going on in the family.

We saw an interesting mix of music, drama, physical theatre, and stuff that can’t quite be categorised. Some highlights:

D-Seven

A cappella group, a snippet from their twitter profile sums them up nicely:

Good looks, great tunes, and great guys

A mix of old stuff and new stuff. Lots of fun!

Love @ First Fight

Despite some dated ideas about gender roles, this musical drama comedy dance thing was very entertaining and very funny. The husband and wife team that perform have got great on-stage chemistry and are very appealing to watch. Ahem.

[Review of show at KBT]

Dirt

One man show about a three friends (and a dog) on a road trip to bury a fourth. Brilliantly acted, brilliantly observed.

James Cairns is fantastic, and is definitely added to my “see everything he does” list.

Boo!

Rocking monkipunk (new discovery to me). These guys know how to rock the party. If they pop up in Cape Town again, I’m there.

I grabbed a CD after the show, and it’s great and I will be playing it a lot, but Boo live are fantastic, and not to be missed. Chris Chameleon has an amazing voice and stage presence. And is super camp .

Seriously?

Ian “Ewok” Robinson does some kind of mish mash mush of rapping and spoken word beat poetry thing and is great with it and at it. Check him out!