Lights! Sound! Action! Let the magic begin!

Writer: Elaine Davie

It was an artistic tour de force beyond the imaginations of most of the Overstrand children attending the Artscape Outreach Concerts last Friday. As the 1 100 learners of Hawston Primary School filed into the hall, neatly dressed and disciplined, high-fiving Principal Julius Swart on the way in, one could not miss the tingle of excitement in the air.

PHOTO: Taylum Meyer

The Hawston visit included two free, hour-long concerts for primary school children, one for high school pupils and a Gala Concert for members of the public in the evening. A long day’s journey for the performers and backstage workers, especially in the face of load-shedding!

“We view it as a very worthwhile exercise both for Artscape and the learners we reach,” explains Project Manager, Whelan Maarman. “On the one hand, we believe we are investing in the future of the performing arts by building new audiences and on the other, we are expanding the worldview of pupils by exposing them to different artistic genres and cultural traditions. Our high school performances also have a strong career guidance element, introducing the learners to the various options for a career in the performing arts, either from an artistic or a technical support point of view.”

PHOTO: Taylum Meyer

With open-mouthed, bugeyed wonder the youngest children simply drank it all in, while the older ones threw themselves body and soul into the action. Under the spell of performers not much older than themselves, “that could be me” was definitely not too great a stretch.

The stirring words of the song from The Man of La Mancha, performed by the full company, were ringing in their ears as they left the hall: “Here is something that can fill your life with beauty, reach out for it. But more than that, if it is strong enough, if you have the self-belief and are prepared to work hard enough, it doesn’t have to be an ‘impossible dream’.”

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