UNIZULU’s Department of Creative Arts Scores Top Award at the National Arts Festival

The year 2023 marked the first time the University of Zululand’s (UNIZULU) Department of Creative Arts obtained the Standard Bank Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival, which was recently held in Makhanda (formerly known as Grahamstown) in Eastern Cape.

The National Arts Festival has long been a highlight on South Africa’s cultural calendar. It’s a time for artists and visitors to gather, engage and celebrate. Showcasing work across a range of disciplines, this is a festival that encourages range, versatility and innovation. It is the largest arts festival on the African continent and one of the largest performing arts festivals in the world by visitor numbers.

UNIZULU students performed with virtuosity in two plays titled Faces and Ntyilo-Ntyilo –Umhlengikazi. Faces is a story of ‘courage to fall and stand’, written by UNIZULU former lecturer, Gift Marovatsanga, and directed by UNIZULU lecturer Masedi Manenye and performed by UNIZULU student, Ntandoyenkosi Bhengu. It is a theatrical piece which speaks on the emotional, physical, psychological challenges women face in a society that lives on a system that promotes, inhumanity at many levels. Also, the drama touches on how every human being has a responsibility to make the world a better place.

The production made the list of the top performances who in this year’s festival. According to Manenye, this prestigious award goes to a theatrical/stage play that is well produced, presented, well-received by the audience and with a script and cast that stands out, among other things.

Speaking after receiving the news that they were among the big winners, Manenye expressed, “I am excited that the play was acknowledged at the festival – also happy for the writer Gift Tapiwa Marovatsanga and the performer Ntandoyenkosi Bhengu. I’m cheerful for our university, faculty and department for gaining this recognition. I am [satisfied] with the work we put in this success story.”

Marovatsanga captured the audience reaction while Bhengu was displaying her talents, saying: “Ntandoyenkosi Bhengu gave an amazing performance at the show’s opening, the actress is phenomenal. She has matured as a performer. The character Faces is complex, and demanding, but Ntando has found a way to embody that character sincerely and tell her story with such honesty and without holding back. This, also aided by the excellent interpretation and direction given to the text by phenomenal Masedi Godfrey Manenye, is exactly why the play received Standard Bank Standing Ovation on the second day of its staging.”

Marovatsanga said that Bhengu took the audience through all the emotional twists, turns, ups and downs that Faces experience and rollercoaster of emotions, leaving most of them with nothing much to say but gratitude and appreciation not only for the story but the sincerity in the manner in which it was told.

 “I’m proud of the work and efforts we have put as the cast and crew to craft the production. I’m looking forward to all future endeavours that come with the Faces,” emphasised Bhengu. She also accredited her sound, light engineer and Manenye. “I owe it all to [Masedi] because he made the character. He [would] check on my wellbeing as the play was very draining and emotional,” affirmed Bhengu.

According to Marovatsanga, the crew has already started receiving invitations to take the show to other places and venues. Invites from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Johannesburg and the One-man/woman Theatre Festival are on the cards.

“The audience appreciated the work and further expressed that Faces should not only be performed in Grahamstown but across the country as well. They gave it blessings,” Manenye concluded.

• Pamela Mlaba

Caption

Ntandoyenkosi Bhengu displaying her noteworthy acting prowess during a staging of Faces in UNIZULU’s KwaDlangezwa Campus.