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Well, the festival has finally wound to an end. Today I saw my final two performances, which included the Festival Finale – The Festival Gala Concert.

But first. This morning I followed up brunch with Ten Bush a play about witchcraft and deceit in a small African village, the village of Ten Bush. It was an excellent performance, with its limited set design and raw stage feel of the Box Theatre. It did have its slightly explicit moments, and left one feeling slightly odd, but was really made by the voices. I am going to be hearing “Ten Buuush” (not that this does it any justice) for ages to come.

This was followed, finally, by Richard Cock’s Gala Concert, which included The Orchestra, some Opera, some Sax, and even Audience participation. It was also a tribute to the Festival CEO who has retired after being at the helm of the festival for many years.

The performance was a superb mix of classical and modern music, all chosen because of some significance to the year 2008. Unlike the performance yesterday, Richard Cock continuously addressed the audience and the whole occasion was less formal. (Indeed he was an a bright yellow shirt!) The grand finale was The 1812 Overture which made use of the audience and paper bags to create the cannons. An effect which worked quite well. For an encore, they performed (almost to my horror) the song NAFG – or National Arts Festival, Grahamstown. Richard Cock claimed that this had been commissioned for the festival, but it turned out to be the YMCA.

Quite appropriately, the sun was just setting over the horizon as we left the monument. A builtiful red and orange orb to place an air of finality on what was a wonderful celebration of culture.

Tonight I went to see Cissie which is the the first performance I have seen at this my first National Arts Festival. It is unbelievable how different Grahamstown has become, but it isn’t quite as busy as I thought it would be.

We booked tickets ages ago, on the 21st of May, so our main Festival Programme is already sorted. We didn’t book any Fringe stuff though, so we still need to do that. George has a programme so we will look at that. I will get round to getting one at some point.

Fest started off last night with dinner. I had Nick, Barry and Prof Wells round for dinner and we had a great time. I only got to bed at 1am though, so slept a little late. Mathe and I wondered down High Street towards Church Square, which is unrecognisable for all the containers for the Transnet Container Craft Fair. We were going to get a snack there, but I have been put off festival food. So we then wandered down to The Village Green and browsed round there for ages. It was good fun, and there are lots of things I’d like to get.

After a light snack, George, Mathe and I went to our first event, Cissie. Cissie is a play about a strong woman: Cissie Gool. It was a wonderful play and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is set in Cape town between the early 1900s and the 1950s. Cissie, daughter to a Scottish Suffragette and an Indian Doctor grew up knowing that she was different to her mother. Eventually she would campaign for equal rights for all and most importantly for the right to live in her home – her home in District Six.

The play starts in the present time, and jumps back to recount the tales of Cissie. At the end it returns to the present with good effect. The only criticism I could give it was that Cissie’s speeches were not given justice by the actress and the constant set alterations did get a little distracting. The use of a projector was excellent and when scenes from District Six and of Cissie Gool were shown at the end, the standing ovation turned to her applause – cast included, which was wonderful.

Cissie herself died before by the Group Areas act District Six was declared “for the ‘White Group’”. A day that residents of District Six will never forget.

After the play Mathe and George went to see some Jazz and I started partying with Dan. We just chilled at his house and had a few drinks, playing XBox. Afterwards we went to The Rat and Friers, which was pretty empty. Surprisingly so. A fantastic end to Day One of Fest!