We were picked up at 1:30 at Johannesburg airport by the wonderful Gerard Bester (more of him later), by 2pm we were in the inner city and by 2:15pm we were watching a piece of theatre at Hillbrow Theatre Project. Hillbrow Theatre Project provides a safe space where children and youth can explore issues through plays and storytelling, as well as so much more. But for us essentially it is a haven of extraordinary energy, with quality engagement between inspirational facilitators and passionate and committed young people.
Their show was based on issues that the young people really cared about, and was powerful and focussed. We were invited to share our ideas of how we could incorporate full mask theatre into the piece...the debate began....the debate is far from over.
On day two we worked with a group of 23 young people, including the cast of the show. We shared full mask skills and soon realised how they could potentially help in bringing something extra to their performance. The young people's style is high energy, highly expressive, with 100% commitment; so on day three we worked incredibly hard on the detail; minute detail; isolation; subtle characterisation - and the results were surprisingly beautiful. The eagerness to learn was moving, the hunger to succeed staggering. So our second and final day with this group of young people ended with a continuation of the debate of whether to use mask scenes to top and tail their story. We have left the young people of The Hillbrow Project a set of Vamos/Strangeface masks and a teachers pack so they can carry on exploring and deciding, playing, failing, learning....this is only the beginning of Vamos Theatre at Hillbrow, I feel sure.
And day three we worked with 17 professionals: actors, teachers, designers, masks makers and clowns (don't forget the clowns in the room). Another day of laughter, learning, debate, sharing and creativity.
I really changed the way I taught this group, using new techniques and exercises to focus on detail and clarity. The work devised in the session was performed, shared and magically supported by Janie's composition or choice of musical mood, emotion or humour.
To cap it all off, last night Gerard took us to the Market Theatre to see Sophiatown, a show first performed in 1986 during the state of emergency, and about forced evictions in the 1950s. Warm hearted and human, it had stunning acappella singing, and it was wonderful to just be at a theatre that played such an important part in the South African struggle.
Lastly, Gerard Bester - the dear, funny, warm, funny, welcoming, funny Gerard (we eagerly await your autobiography!). We have lived with him and his family who have welcomed us so warmly with equal measures of charm and cheek. I knew right from the first evening when the adorable 6 year old Nēka knocked on our door with a jug of milk and then invited herself in to chat, that we were in for a treat. It's beyond a treat, it's been a privilege to live with the Besters, to work at Hillbrow and to soak up Johannesburg. We will be back; there are too many stories to tell, questions to answer, ideas to share...
Rachael and Janie