Phambili Theatre Festival

In partnership with the Stable Theatre, Twist was an integral part of the Phambili Theatre Festival that ran from 22 to 24 March. Both Emuhle All Artists and Siyakha Performing Artists showed their full-cast versions of their new work, which were very well received by the audience. It was also great to see previously graduated groups creating dynamic new work, including the guys from Big Brotherhood and Ubuntu Arts (now known as Intuba Arts Development) who appeared on the festival programme alongside the twins from Umsindo and a group from Bloemfontein.

New Playscripts 2012-2013
The festival opened with the launch of the anticipated “New South African Playscripts” collection for 2012-2013, which is a collection of the full-cast and two-hander scripts created by the Twist groups in association with writers Neil Coppen and Themba Mkhoma. The work is presented in both English and Zulu, and is a rare opportunity for bi-lingual publishing.
The published copies are available for use of schools, universities and theatre groups. Please contact the Twist office if you are interested in getting your hands on a copy.

Groups graduating from Twist
Emuhle All Artists and Siyakha Performing Artists have both now graduated from the Twist programme. We are delighted that Emuhle have recently performed at the Zabalaza Festival at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town, and also at a recent Community Arts Festival in Bloemfontein. Siyakha has been invited to present their work to the Market Theatre, for consideration for their annual community arts festival. The groups have made the most of the opportunities offered to them through the Twist programme, and it is a positive step to see them networking and continuing to grow. We wish them both strength and success going in to the future.

2013 plans
Twist was unfortunately not awarded an anticipated company funding grant from the National Arts Council, and are now in the process of sending applications and conducting negotiations with a number of other potential funders , before we can identify new groups with which to work, and before we can confirm our annual programme for the year ahead. Watch this space for details!