2014 Platteland Preview Programme

(For more information, images etc go to the home of the Platteland Preview festival: www.smithfield.co.za)

Friday 27 June

*  4 – 5pm NGK Church Hall: Official opening of In Transit : A Bloemfontein group exhibition sponsored by Oliewenhuis Art Museum

Art. Opening of art exhibition with specially commissioned work by prize-winning Free State artists. The exhibition continues throughout the festival.

*  6 – 8pm Red Barn: Official festival opening, followed by: The Ballad of Dirk de Bruin

Drama. Dirk de Bruin blows the whistle on corruption: find out what gives a backveld farm boy the strength and courage to be a whistle-blower and to face the consequences. (Mostly English)

Saturday 28 June

*  10.30 – 11.30am Red Barn: Stranger Things

Comedy. Valentine’s Day and as restaurant owner Bronwyn struggles to keep his business going, it’s Gordon Ramsey and Hell’s Kitchen come to Smithfield. (English)

*  12 noon – 12.45 Red Barn: Classical music concert

Music. Classical guitar duo Maryke and Pieter Smit, play works by Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach and Tarega

*  12 noon – 1.30pm Town Hall: Grandma’s Song  (for school learners only)

Musical play. Legendary figure Mantsopa and her legacy. This is history; a love story – and a challenge to accept your creative gifts. Directed by acclaimed actor-director Jerry Mofokeng. (Sesotho and English)

*  2.15 – 3.05 Red Barn: Jazz concert

Music. The El Camino Duet with Lesley Jennings (saxophone) and Nhlanhla Xipu (violin and saxophone) play jazz standards you love as well as some of their own compositions

*  3.30 – 4.30pm Bell’s Chapel: To Kill a Koeksuster

Comedy-drama. Murder-mystery in which the audience is a character and the ending is always different. (English)

*  5 – 5.40pm Red Barn: Road to Recovery

Political satire. Set in the park below the Union Buildings, Pretoria;  a biting comment on South Africa in the post-Mandela era. (English)

*  6 – 7.30pm Town Hall: Grandma’s Song

Musical play. Legendary figure Mantsopa and her legacy. This is a history; a love story – and a challenge to accept your creative gifts. Directed by acclaimed actor-director Jerry Mofokeng. (Sesotho and English)

*  8 – 9pm Bell’s Chapel: Ghost Story

Horror. South Africa’s first horror show on stage. A truly scary show inspired by the great horror movies. But it’s much deeper than that …. (English)

*  8 – 9pm Buckleys: Civic Reception (by invitation only)

Reception for invited municipal officials and the cast of Grandma’s Song

Sunday 29 June 2014

*  11 – 12 noon Bell’s Chapel: Rook

Comedy-drama. A smoking hot show about smoking: why we do it, why we love it, why we hate it. Starring Gene McCaskill, last seen in Vrek, now making it big on TV. (Mostly Afrikaans with some English. Note 4 – 16 age restriction because of language)

*  12.15 – 1.15pm Red Barn: Lena

Drama. Lena was once the best cook, the best mother, a pillar of the community. But she had a secret that drove a wedge between her and her daughter, Sonja. Now Sonja comes to help pack up her home and the two women talk. (Afrikaans)

*   2 – 3.30pm Town Hall: Grandma’s Song

Musical play. Legendary figure Mantsopa and her legacy. This is history; a love story – and a challenge to accept your creative gifts. Directed by acclaimed actor-director Jerry Mofokeng. (Sesotho and English)