Despite a notable(and rare) policepresence at theFestival, a critic waspickpocketed on thevery first dayleadingto squawl
physical confidence into art. The program moved on toconclude with a collective item from all three groups,giving the festival one of its moments of epiphany. Atone point a black dancer cam e on stage alone, danced afew steps, and was joined by a fair-haired Queenslander.The two men shook hands, African style, then pulledaway from each other and lean t back in tandem. Thecrowd wildly cheered, for it was at once a vision of awhite Australia purified of racism and of aconfident, multicultural South Africa.REACHJNG ouT, alas, is still fairly symbolic. Theprograms have been substantially Africanised, and tosom e degree so have the performers. But it must bedepressing for a black stand-up comic like David Kau tofind himself playing to entirely white audiences. Thecharge of elitism is therefore to some degree justified,since ticket prices are such that many people, certainlymost blacks, are simply excluded from attending. At thesam e time, there are reports of complimentary ticketsfor blacks having gon e unclaimed: the whole ambienceremains intimidating. It is quite otherwise with whites.For them, the National Arts Festival becomes the idealway to take their culture: on a binge, away from thecrime-infested streets of the big cities, where manypeople do not feel safe at night. As in so many respects,South Africa exemplifies postmodernism; Festivalaudiences also to som e degree differentiate them selves.The young people who stayed away from the Monteverdiopera comprised almost the entire audience for TheVagina Monologues.Crowds may have been slightly down for this year'sfestival, but ticket sales for the Main were up. TheGrahamstown Festival n eeded this boost, for it isincreasingly under competition from up to a dozenfes tivals elsewhere in the country. Indeed, two rathermore folksy ones have sprung up on either side of it, inplaces on the way. More serious is the effect of thenewish Oudtshoorn Festival which, now that Afrikaansspeakersfeel besieged, is drawing away Afrikaans writers,performers and audiences.But the Festival, even should it be scaled down, isunlikely to die-indeed other gatherings now supplement it. The ANC is aware of how important it is for theGrahamstown economy, and as a showcase for the town;the experience can encourage white people to send theirkids there to be schooled. With less than 30 per cent ofthe town's workforce in full employment, the placeneeds all the help it can get. Burnt-out buildings stand inthe m ain street, and have for m onths; there is not enoughmoney or confidence to restore or rebuild. Meanwhile,the annual vision of Camelot has fa ded. For the moment,the street kids, having huddled in groups bus king outsideFestival venues, have vanished. But any day now theywill be back, begging.•OBITUARYLINDA M c GIRRJennifer Paterson1928-1999W ALL SAY WE ADMJRE someone who dancesto her own tune, yet we rarely see anyone whodoes, rarer still on TV.We are bombarded with endless interviewswith soapie starlets, sex symbols and songstresses.Even our women newsreaders areindistinguishable from catwalk models.Curious then that we ever had the pleasureof Jennifer Paterson on our screens-fat ,bespectacled and, worse still, well over 60. Sheappeared, not as someone's grandmother, butin her own right as a chef with years of culinaryexperience following on from a successfulcareer backstage in theatre and television.Witty, well-read and remarkable in hergenuine interest in people and places, she tookus from convents to breweries, scout camps toThe Ritz, lunching with cricketers, choirboysand bikies, travelling from place to place onher much-loved motorbike with hercollaborator Clarissa Dickson-Wright in sidecar.With Clarissa, she rejected the pretensionsof foodies who prepare m eals with the sterilityand precision of micro-surgery.Her funeral was a Requiem Mass in theBrompton Oratory. At Jennifer's request, theMass was in Latin, and h er motorbike helmetwas placed on h er coffin, remaining therethroughout the service.•Jim Davidson, who is currently researching in SouthAfrica, teaches a course on the Rise and Fall of Apartheidat Victoria University of T echnology. He attended theStandard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown(29 June- 11 July).V OLUME 9 NUMBER 7 • EUREKA STREET 31
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