3 – 11 OKT 2026
3 – 11 OKT 2026
Deur: Diane de Beer
Foto’s: Verskaf
With today’s easy access to almost anyone, interviews can sometimes become more enjoyable for the interviewer than the artist being interviewed. But when your subject is Brett Bailey – racing between shows, juggling productions and somehow keeping it all together – you’re grateful for thoughtfully considered written answers that offer a glimpse into what he is trying to pull off. And, judging by his track record, probably will.
Starting with The Stranger, he came across the myth of Orpheus, the semi-divine poet-musician of Classical Greece whose “melodious music brings harmony to the natural world: olive trees inch towards him as he plays, fishes leave the streams to listen, birds and animals gather around him”.
“I was captivated by this image of a man singing in the wilderness, both bringing order to the world with his art, and revealing an underlying order in the cosmos,” he begins. “Then he goes even further by voyaging to the Underworld, where all the order is shown to be meaningless.”
For Brett this is a myth that captures the beautiful fragility of life, of violence and of life’s ephemerality. The story haunted him for two decades, inspired him and pulled him in so many directions, throwing up so many images and confronted him with questions.
As a result, “in 2006 I created an outdoor promenade piece based on it called Orfeus, and another version a few years later which toured in the EU. This is the third version, first performed at the National Arts Festival in 2024. Of all my works, The Stranger is the most meaningful to me.”
About the style of the production, he notes that ritualistic staging is something he has returned to periodically since his earlier days in the mid 1990’s. “I find it particularly apt for works based in mythological content, where different realities intersect: the material and the dream worlds, the realms of people and gods.”
This is a story of our time, of an immigrant who arrives in Stellenbosch bringing a gift of exquisite music that transforms all who hear it. And immediately there’s a connection for the audience. Three musicians accompany him and a number of performers enact the drama, including the woman he falls in love with as well as Death.
Attending The Stranger, he advises, is like entering a ceremony in which a story is told in some remote village, or even more enticing, like entering someone else’s dream. How can one not accept that invitation?
The cast includes Nkosenathi Koela and others and this is the second time this musician who believes in the transformational power of African indigenous music will be featured in this production, the first in 2024. “His music is truly deep and extraordinary,” explains Brett. “He was the natural choice for the role of Orpheus.”
They will be performing in what Brett describes as a gorgeous building almost 10 minutes out of Stellenbosch, Die Boekklub.
“It is an old apple shed converted into a remarkable venue filled with antiques. Very special. The audience will lounge on vintage sofas on two sides of an intimate performance arena: an immersive sonic environment lit by candles and chandeliers.
And he is delighted to report that audiences find the work very beautiful and moving.
No less exciting or challenging, FaustX was commissioned by Kunsfest Weimar in 2025 for the 250th anniversary of Goethe’s move to that city. “I was not aware then that there was a 2nd part to Faust. It is a monster of a text, incredibly complex and full of poetic, philosophical, historical and mythological allusions: a full dramatisation would take over five hours,” the master reports.
“When I first encountered it, I had no idea what to do with it. Gradually, over a year, I cut it right down to around 90 minutes. It tells of a man who, in his drive to find meaning, opts for all possibilities of extreme experience in exchange for his soul.
“On my journey to find its contemporary relevance, I gravitated towards the tech barons that are currently steering our planet on a rapid course into the unknown, who are sacrificing the soul of the earth to Progress. Mr Musk, with all his glitches and complexities, became my primary focus…
“The work speaks of modern humanity’s insatiable drive to satisfy the self, to push beyond boundaries and limitations, to experience as much as possible, no matter what the cost. In our technologically rapacious era, the dangers of such an orientation resonate deeply. In a sense, it is a terrifying piece of theatre…
I’m a visual person, and my taste is very eclectic.
“Thematically I deal with European manipulation of African economies, the war in Gaza, Israeli settler occupation of the West Bank, Elon Musk’s fever dreams of technological domination and the colonization of distant planets, the destruction of the planet’s ecosystem by out-of-control capitalism, and the rise of the far right in Europe.”
And if that doesn’t get you rushing out for tickets, it obviously is not your kind of theatre.
But that’s not the only thing that drives this piece. Who would not be intrigued by the fact that ChatGPT takes the honours as “dramaturg” in the festival guide?
Not unexpectedly, Brett would be one of the first to get the best from any new technology even though he acknowledges the anxiety around the use of AI in the creative industries. “Many people feel threatened by it.”
But for this interrogating artist it became yet another arrow in his quiver. He used it to bounce off ideas of several of his works and thus its has a thorough “sense of the network of threads that permeate my artistic vision”.
He insists that it doesn’t write his texts, yet it opens up avenues of exploration and helps him to make connections. Making his point twice over he says: “In a work that looks at the dangers of technology run rampant, it feels conceptually appropriate to acknowledge ChatGPT as my dramaturg…”
And in short, Brett adds a lesson in AI for those interested.
Taking a closer look at FaustX, he views the work both as a visual artwork and a piece of theatre. “I’m a visual person, and my taste is very eclectic.
“Inspiration for FaustX comes from so many sources: Central African wood carvings and paintings, Japanese and East European films, Instagram, Tibetan Buddhist shrines, the colour palette of Mediterranean gardens, news channels and social media, rural European mask traditions, medieval Christian paintings, the work clothes of local farm labourers… it’s all in there” as in so many of his earlier works.
FaustX talks of the hubris of men who destroy anything in their path to satisfy their relentless need for more; The Stranger speaks of those who step in to attempt to heal what has been destroyed.
As he notes himself, Brett has worked with masks on and off for years, and now they feature prominently in the works he makes. “I love the sense of otherworldliness they bring to the stage, and the effect that they have on performers’ bodies. Using them allows several performers to play one character: four different performers play Faust, each bringing their own skillset to the role. I make the masks from cardboard and glue and paint: I love the rough, handmade quality.
FaustX, he says, is also saturated from beginning to end in deeply beautiful music – from works by Handel, Purcell and Mozart, to modern composers like Arvo Pärt and Biosphere.
He views the two works as companion pieces, two panels of a diptych, each painted in a different style.
“FaustX talks of the hubris of men who destroy anything in their path to satisfy their relentless need for more; The Stranger speaks of those who step in to attempt to heal what has been destroyed. Both face their mortality in the face of an inscrutable and indifferent universe…”
For those who will not be visiting Woordfees, let’s all hold thumbs that these two works travel widely throughout the country.
The Stranger
9, 10 & 11 OCT 19:30
Die Boekklub, Johannesdal
R180 | R210 at the door
FaustX
3 OCT 20:00 | 4 OCT 10:00 | 5 OCT 19:30
Adam Small Auditorium
R210-R350 | R240-R380 at the door
