Parel Vallei High School’s Drama department lifted the ATKV Tienertoneel trophy for the 5th time at the Artscape Theatre.
Competing against 189 high school plays nationwide, this is the fourth year in a row that the school has claimed the title (2014 – Wolkop, 2021 – Hansie Slim, 2022 – Maanmaats, 2023 – Wegwereld, 2024 – Vir Spot).
“We are very blessed to have highly talented and passionate learners who audition to be a part of the plays every year. They dedicate hours of hard work to the process which demands high discipline, creativity and adaptability,” explains the school Head of Culture and director of the winning Drama production, Darryl Spijkers.
The winning play was called Vir Spot, and dealt with the relationship between a dog and his best friend.
When the dog is run over by a speeding car the boy needs to deal with the loss of a companion who has been with him for his whole life.
The whimsy of actors playing cats and dogs combined with your typical adolescent boy issues created for lot of laughs and some deep moments of reflection.
The story was relatable to many and utilised some simple yet memorable staging and performance techniques such as seagull puppets and beach houses that doubled up as dog kennels.
This play also picked up the highly contended Best Actor award which went to Francois Retief, as Spot the talking dog, who you might have seen at the Playhouse in Helderberg Academy of Theatre’s Peter Pan, in the title role.
Francois also led PV’s successful production of 23KG in 2023.
“The secret to successful playmaking is telling stories with heart that captivate both the actor and the audience. Deciding on the right cast and the right theme to unpack is the most important part.
“Once you have invested actors, their energy and performances will be believable and then it is just a matter of packaging a production that has sensory value.
“Another great aspect of our annual drama season is being able to develop the plays with multiple performances from the Playhouse where they are born at the annual High School Drama Festival, to festivals such as Fraserberg Logan Toneelfees, Silwervaaring Toneelfees, Montagu Youth Arts festival – to name a few” explains Mr Spijkers.
To add to the accolades, Parel Vallei also picked up the second place with the anti-war protest play called 99 Luftballons, named after the iconic 80s song by Nena, which is the final scene of the piece.
This highly memorable piece picked up the most awards at the competition and hosted a live band as well as a few multi-disciplinary theatre techniques such as dance, shadow and hand puppetry, television imagery, and performance poetry.
This production also took the title of Best Play at the Western Cape leg of the competition held at the Baxter Theatre in August.
“With this piece we really got to challenge ourselves as creatives and push the boundaries of how plays are staged as well as what stories we tell. We may not have a fully blown war in South Africa, but this story intended to educate and beg for empathy for those locked in wars around the world.”
“Through the use of iconic music and poetry in Bertold Brecht style – this story comes alive to ask the audience what they would do if they were caught in a bombed village and find a baby on the rubble.
“The best part of this production was playing to the strengths of each of the 28 onstage performers to create a production our school will never forget,” says Mr Spijkers.
“Our school prides itself on its cultural achievements and it was wonderful to see how music and drama worked together to create so many wonderful opportunities for our teenagers to travel to the countries biggest theatres and festivals and perform,” notes Lana van der Westhuizen, the school librarian, who is also head of costumes for the Drama department.
The school has announced dates for next years’ Festival that they will host at the Playhouse for both primary and high school plays mid-year 2025. For more information contact Darryl Spijkers at dspijkers@pvallei.co.za
