High school play “Ink” sweeps the boards

Date: 04 August 2018 By: Jo Robinson

Louis Trichardt High School took home a haul of prizes for their play, Ink, first during the Reza de Wet Youth Festival and then at the Eldo Youth Festival.

Writer and director of the play Marcel van Niekerk, who was also responsible for lighting, stage and sound design, says that the play deals with how the small choices, responses and events in life can cause significant hurt which often leads to a person's withdrawing from their environment. “The play is rich in symbolism and metaphors that leaves a lot of food for thought after you have watched it,” says Marcel.

According to Marcel they first participated at the Reza de Wet Youth Festival (this is not a competition but a festival), which is hosted during the Free State Arts Festival on 9 and 10 July. At this festival, the play was described by Pierre-Andre Viviers as a constantly evolving portrait on stage. Lizane Basson mentioned that the play cannot be categorized within conventional genres as it is one of a kind.

“This past weekend (on 27 and 28 July) we competed at Aardklop Pronk Podium's regional Eldo Youth Festival against 21 other plays. Our strongest competition was Zwartkop, Eldoraigne and Waterkloof high schools, as well as Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool and Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool,” says Marcel.

Triegies’ performing team advanced to the final and won a slew of awards and nominations as well as 11 certificates. “We were also adjudicated for another competition called 'Op Die Planke' at which the whole cast achieved an A+ and we advanced to the national final that is taking place in October. We will do a final local show on Wednesday, 29 August. At this show, we will include two new, never-seen-before scenes, new lines, and new twists as inspired by the feedback from our judges, which included Johann Smith and Bertha le Roux,” says Marcel. Smith is the script writer for 7de Laan and Bertha plays Emma from the same series.

Limited tickets are available for the 29 August show and booking is essential. Tickets are R50 per person and can be booked by contacting Marcel at Tel 074 242 9984.

“After our final local show, we will compete in our last competition at the ATKV Tienertoneel in Potchefstroom from 30 August to 1 September,” says Marcel.

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Jo Robinson

Jo joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2018 pursuing a career in journalism after many years of writing fiction and non-fiction for other sectors.

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