Brett Bailey
Encyclopedia
Brett Bailey is a playwright, designer, play director, festival curator and the artistic director of the group Third World Bun Fight. He is the curator of South Africa’s only public arts
festival, Infecting the City
, in Cape Town
, South Africa. His works have played across Europe, Australia and Africa, and have one several awards, including a gold medal for design at the Prague Quadrennial
(2007).
's Infecting the City
since 2008.
Bailey's earlier works - Ipi Zombi, iMumbo Jumbo and The Prophet - are grouped together under the title ‘Plays of Miracle and Wonder’ (which is the title of a book on Bailey's plays) and incorporate ceremony and sacrament. These works are aggressive with Bailey using drums, screams, knives and broken glass to break down the audiences' defenses.
In Ipi Zombi, Bailiey evoked a 1996 witch-hunt in which several women were blamed and killed for the death of twelve boys in a minivan accident. It combined Xhosa
and Christian
ritual. Author Zakes Mda
claimed Ipi Zombi to be a “A work of genius that maps out a path to a new South African theatre ..."
In other works, such as Orfeus, Bailey takes a softer approach, and looks to highlight the blind, forgotten, the broken and the voiceless. In Orfeus, specifically, the audience is drawn down into an African underworld that is governed by a seedy businessman. Orfeus, and other works, look at a post-colonial, showing a "decaying globalised world in which not only shamanic rituals but also moving music create an entirely unique African atmosphere".
First staged in 2004 in Bern, Switzerland, House of The Holy Afro has been repeatedly staged in Europe and Australia with its last iteration at the Market Theatre
Laboratory, Johannesburg
in June 2010. Performer and drag diva, Odidi Mfenyana plays the high priest of the holy house, and leads the performance through an urban funk cabaret
that borders on spiritual ritual
.
In the site-specific
work medEia, the audience walked in silence for at least ten-minutes before the production. The audience's emotional and intellectual journey through works were physically manifest in the installations Blood Diamonds: Terminal and Exhibit A: Deutsch Sudwestafrika.
Exhibit A: Deutsch-Südwestafrika, staged in the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna'sHofburg Palace is a "meditation on the dark history of European Racism in relation to Africa".
For the 4th World Summit on Arts and Culture, Bailey presented 3 Colours - a one-off mixed media performance piece. Bailey collaborated with award-winning choreographer Gregory Maqoma and Congalese musician Mapumba Cilombo. The piece represented the complexities of inter-culturalism, in which Bailey "chose to portray different societies or cultures symbolically as shrines. Indefinable as they are, our cultures are sacred to us. At the heart of each glows a unique cluster of precious jewels; our myths and histories, our heritage, our values and social structure, our cosmology, and relationship to the ultimate."
Bailey's has curated Infecting the City
since 2008. It is currently Africa's biggest public arts
festival that takes place in the public spaces of Cape Town during February every year. Every year, the Festival chooses a theme that has social relevance. "In a society that has as many complex issues as ours, if one is commandeering the communal spaces of the city, it is not enough merely to provide entertainment for the public. There is a moral imperative to tackle the pressing issues of our day, and to ask artists to apply themselves to these."
Orfeus: writer/director/designer
macbEth: the opera: director/designer (written by Verdi)
House of the Holy Afro: director/designer
Talking Heads: developed concept
medEia: director/designer (written by Oscar van Woensel)
Big Dada: the rise and fall of Idi Amin: director/designer/writer
Vodou Nation: made in Haiti, director/designer/writer
iMumbo Jumbo: writer/director/designer
Safari: C.G. Jung in Africa: made in Uganda, director/writer/designer
The Prophet: director/writer/designer
Ipi Zombi: writer/director/designer
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
festival, Infecting the City
Infecting the City
Held in Cape Town, South Africa Infecting the City is a public arts festival that is committed to making art freely available to everyone. The Festival hosts a range of different types of site-specific art, artistic interventions and performance art in the central part of the City. Each year the...
, in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, South Africa. His works have played across Europe, Australia and Africa, and have one several awards, including a gold medal for design at the Prague Quadrennial
Prague Quadrennial
Held in Prague once every fourth years since 1967, the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space or Prague Quadrennial is the world's largest event in the field of scenography, consisting of a competitive presentation of contemporary work in a variety of performance design disciplines and...
(2007).
History
Brett Bailiey was born in 1967 and completed a post graduate diploma in performance studies at the Dasarts Master of Theatre in Amsterdam. He has worked throughout South Africa, and in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Haiti, the UK and across Europe. His acclaimed iconoclastic dramas, which interrogate the dynamics of the post-colonial world, include Big Dada, Ipi Zombi, iMumbo Jumbo and Orfeus. His performance installations includeBlood Diamonds: Terminal and Exhibit A: Deutsch Sudwestafrika. He directed the opening show at the 4th World Summit on Arts and Culture (2009), and from 2006 until 20011 has directed the opening shows for the Harare International Festival of the Arts. He has been the curator of Africa CentreAfrica Centre
The Africa Centre is structured as a not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to provide a platform for Pan-African arts and cultural practice to function as a catalyst for social change. All the projects it conducts, facilitates or supports have some social intention...
's Infecting the City
Infecting the City
Held in Cape Town, South Africa Infecting the City is a public arts festival that is committed to making art freely available to everyone. The Festival hosts a range of different types of site-specific art, artistic interventions and performance art in the central part of the City. Each year the...
since 2008.
The Works
The work of Bailey investigates the many layers and intricacies of colonial and post-colonial Africa.Bailey's earlier works - Ipi Zombi, iMumbo Jumbo and The Prophet - are grouped together under the title ‘Plays of Miracle and Wonder’ (which is the title of a book on Bailey's plays) and incorporate ceremony and sacrament. These works are aggressive with Bailey using drums, screams, knives and broken glass to break down the audiences' defenses.
In Ipi Zombi, Bailiey evoked a 1996 witch-hunt in which several women were blamed and killed for the death of twelve boys in a minivan accident. It combined Xhosa
Xhosa
The Xhosa people are speakers of Bantu languages living in south-east South Africa, and in the last two centuries throughout the southern and central-southern parts of the country....
and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
ritual. Author Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda
Zakes Mda , legally Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda , is a South African novelist, poet and playwright. He has won major South African and British literary awards for his novels and plays.-Early life and education:...
claimed Ipi Zombi to be a “A work of genius that maps out a path to a new South African theatre ..."
In other works, such as Orfeus, Bailey takes a softer approach, and looks to highlight the blind, forgotten, the broken and the voiceless. In Orfeus, specifically, the audience is drawn down into an African underworld that is governed by a seedy businessman. Orfeus, and other works, look at a post-colonial, showing a "decaying globalised world in which not only shamanic rituals but also moving music create an entirely unique African atmosphere".
First staged in 2004 in Bern, Switzerland, House of The Holy Afro has been repeatedly staged in Europe and Australia with its last iteration at the Market Theatre
Market Theatre
The Market Theatre, based in the vibrant inner-city suburb of Newtown in Johannesburg, South Africa, was opened in 1976, operating as an independent, non-racial theatre during the country’s apartheid regime...
Laboratory, Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
in June 2010. Performer and drag diva, Odidi Mfenyana plays the high priest of the holy house, and leads the performance through an urban funk cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
that borders on spiritual ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
.
In the site-specific
Site-specific
Site-specific is used in a range of contexts:In art Site-specific artIn molecular biology Site-specific recombination...
work medEia, the audience walked in silence for at least ten-minutes before the production. The audience's emotional and intellectual journey through works were physically manifest in the installations Blood Diamonds: Terminal and Exhibit A: Deutsch Sudwestafrika.
Exhibit A: Deutsch-Südwestafrika, staged in the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna'sHofburg Palace is a "meditation on the dark history of European Racism in relation to Africa".
For the 4th World Summit on Arts and Culture, Bailey presented 3 Colours - a one-off mixed media performance piece. Bailey collaborated with award-winning choreographer Gregory Maqoma and Congalese musician Mapumba Cilombo. The piece represented the complexities of inter-culturalism, in which Bailey "chose to portray different societies or cultures symbolically as shrines. Indefinable as they are, our cultures are sacred to us. At the heart of each glows a unique cluster of precious jewels; our myths and histories, our heritage, our values and social structure, our cosmology, and relationship to the ultimate."
Bailey's has curated Infecting the City
Infecting the City
Held in Cape Town, South Africa Infecting the City is a public arts festival that is committed to making art freely available to everyone. The Festival hosts a range of different types of site-specific art, artistic interventions and performance art in the central part of the City. Each year the...
since 2008. It is currently Africa's biggest public arts
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
festival that takes place in the public spaces of Cape Town during February every year. Every year, the Festival chooses a theme that has social relevance. "In a society that has as many complex issues as ours, if one is commandeering the communal spaces of the city, it is not enough merely to provide entertainment for the public. There is a moral imperative to tackle the pressing issues of our day, and to ask artists to apply themselves to these."
Productions
- Jury of Prague Quadrennial – the International Exhibit of Scenography & Theatre Architecture: 2011
- Curator of Infecting the CityInfecting the CityHeld in Cape Town, South Africa Infecting the City is a public arts festival that is committed to making art freely available to everyone. The Festival hosts a range of different types of site-specific art, artistic interventions and performance art in the central part of the City. Each year the...
: the Spier Public Arts Festival in inner-city Cape Town: Feb 2008 to Feb 2011 - Creator of opening concert of Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA): 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011
- Director of opening performance at the World Summit on Arts & Culture in Johannesburg: 2009
- Wrote and directed biographical performance on Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
for his 90th birthday party in Qunu, Eastern Cape: 2008
Performances
Exhibit A: made with Namibian Performers and Musicians, writer/director/designer- 2010 – Vienna FestivalVienna FestivalThe Wiener Festwochen is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June.The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allies...
and Theaterformen Festival in Braunschweig
Orfeus: writer/director/designer
- 2011 – Theaterformen Festival, Hannover
- 2009 – Vienna FestivalVienna FestivalThe Wiener Festwochen is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June.The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allies...
and Holland Festivals - 2007 – National Festival of the Arts (main program)
- 2006 – Cape Town
macbEth: the opera: director/designer (written by Verdi)
- 2007 – Cape Town
- 2002 – Pretoria
- 2001 – Cape Town
House of the Holy Afro: director/designer
- 2010 – Market TheatreMarket TheatreThe Market Theatre, based in the vibrant inner-city suburb of Newtown in Johannesburg, South Africa, was opened in 1976, operating as an independent, non-racial theatre during the country’s apartheid regime...
Johannesburg - 2009 – Perth and Adelaide Festivals, Australia. Linz European Capital of CultureEuropean Capital of CultureThe European Capital of Culture is a city designated by theEuropean Union for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong European dimension....
programme and Rich Mix in London - 2008 – Sydney FestivalSydney FestivalSydney Festival is Australia's largest and most attended annual cultural event running every January since it was first held in 1977. Its program features around 80 events including contemporary and classical music, dance, circus, drama, visual arts and artist talks...
; Zurich SpektakelZürcher Theater SpektakelThe Zürcher Theater Spektakel is an international theatre and performing arts festival, held annually each summer in Zürich, Switzerland. First held in 1980,... - 2007 – Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Harare; Umea, Sweden
- 2006 – Melbourne, Commonwealth GamesCommonwealth GamesThe Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
- 2005 – Vienna FestivalVienna FestivalThe Wiener Festwochen is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June.The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allies...
; Berlin; Brussels; Reunion Island - 2004 – Bern
Talking Heads: developed concept
- 2008 – 2011, Infecting the CityInfecting the CityHeld in Cape Town, South Africa Infecting the City is a public arts festival that is committed to making art freely available to everyone. The Festival hosts a range of different types of site-specific art, artistic interventions and performance art in the central part of the City. Each year the...
festival
medEia: director/designer (written by Oscar van Woensel)
- 2005 – Cape Town
- 2003 – Johannesburg
Big Dada: the rise and fall of Idi Amin: director/designer/writer
- 2005 – Vienna FestivalVienna FestivalThe Wiener Festwochen is a cultural festival in Vienna that takes place every year for five or six weeks in May and June.The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the four Allies...
; Brussels; Berlin; Johannesburg; Cape Town - 2001 – Barbican CentreBarbican CentreThe Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
, London; Amsterdam; National Festival of the Arts (main program); Cape Town
Vodou Nation: made in Haiti, director/designer/writer
- 2004 – London and 17 other UK cities
iMumbo Jumbo: writer/director/designer
- 2003 – Barbican CentreBarbican CentreThe Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
, London; Cape Town - 1997 – National Festival of the Arts (main program); Johannesburg
Safari: C.G. Jung in Africa: made in Uganda, director/writer/designer
- 2003: Kampala, Uganda; Amsterdam, Rotterdam and 13 other Dutch cities
The Prophet: director/writer/designer
- 1999: National Festival of the Arts (main program)
Ipi Zombi: writer/director/designer
- 1998: National Festival of the Arts (main program); Cape Town; Harare
Awards
- 2007: medEia won a gold medal for design at the Prague Quadrennial;
- 2004: Honourable Mention for the book, The Plays of Miracle and Wonder by Brett Bailey at the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa
- 2002: Fleur du Cap Awards/FNB Vita (Cape) award for Best Script of a New South African Play, and Best Costume Design forBig Dada;
- 2001: Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year for drama; Big Dada presented at the National Arts FestivalNational Arts FestivalThe National Arts Festival is one of the most important events on the South African cultural calendar, and the biggest annual celebration of the arts on the African continent....
: Fleur Du Cap's Rosalie van der Gught Award for Best Young Director; - 1998: iMUMBO JUMBO: FNB Vita Awards for best director, original script and design.
Installations
- Blood Diamonds: Terminal at National Festival of the Arts
- Exhibit A: Deutsch SudwestAfrika
Publications
- ‘The Plays of Miracle and Wonder’ – the texts of Third World Bunfight: 2001
- Published articles in The Theatre Review (TDR) and the South African Theatre Journal (SATJ)
- Feature on Brett Bailey by Daniel Larlham in the Yale Theatre Quarterly: 2009