DUT children’s festival is up

THE sixth annual DUT Children’s Theatre Festival – which takes place at DUT City Campus and the Courtyard Theatre from 8 to 11 September, takes a slightly different approach this year showcasing original productions written and workshopped by drama staff and first year students. With September is both heritage month, the festival usually honours South African stories, with a strong heritage theme and educational context.The previous five festivals have each showcased a particular Durban writer who specialises in Children’s Theatre.

Under the spotlight have been Gisele Turner (2011), Clinton Marius (2012), Prof Pieter Scholtz (2013); Dr Gcina Mhlophe (2014) and Neil Coppen (2015). “This year we wanted to look at the festival in another way, and we proudly present a programme of original home-grown works – all imaginative stories with strong life lessons,” says this year’s festival co-ordinator, Dr Pamela Tancsik. Since last year, the festival is also part of the DUT Digifest – with one performance taking place at DUT City Campus as part of the Digifest programme. The Professional Fringe Festival, embedded into the festival, offers productions from veteran stalwarts Peter Court, Adi Paxton and Gisele Turner dovetailing with the commissioned festival pieces to allow for a varied and extensive programme of work over the weekend for the public.