13 September 2013
During set up, Michael Broderick (left) & Oliver Hauser Operations Manager from AFDA Johannesburg Day. KwaZulu Natal’s most respected art festival, the annual Witness Hilton Arts Festival, turns 21 this year and takes place on the beautiful grounds of Hilton College this weekend, from 12 – 15 September 2013. Exciting at this year’s festival, was the use of Black Coffee’s brand new Prolyte Tunnel Roof, the first of its kind in South Africa, which this rental company erected for the first time.
The Witness Hilton Arts Festival produces an unmatched programme of cutting-edge drama, comedy, music and music revue, as well as an impressive array of arts and crafts appealing to all who visit.
Black Coffee did very well setting up the Prolyte Tunnel Roof for the first time. This year Dave Whitehouse from DWR Distribution presents a talk on stage lighting, aimed at school pupils and teachers. These presentations, along with many other drama productions, are to be held in Black Coffee’s new Tunnel Roof. For those who attended Mediatech a couple of months ago, it’s the same structure which made up the DWR stand.
The Prolyte Tunnel Roof is beautiful. It’s also very compact when folded up and could easily fit into an eight ton track with space to spare.
Two of the more “mature theatre practitioners”. Marcus Henning from the Hexagon Theatre and Dave Whitehouse, DWR. Robert Izzett from DWR went down to Durban last weekend to assist Black Coffee. “They actually didn’t’ need help,” said Izzett. “They managed on their own, but we like to help build confidence, especially with the build of a brand new structure for the first time.” For the Hilton Festival, Brandon Bunyon of Black Coffee is using the Tunnel Roof as a venue and not actually as a conventional stage structure. The audience as well as the stage are inside, and the structure has been completely closed off on all sides.
“It also had its first wind test,” explained Izzett. “On Sunday a storm approached from Durban with gusting winds over 50km per hour. Brandon had used 12 tons of water ballasts to hold the tunnel down and the structure was kept safe and sound.”
To everyone involved, enjoy this time! It looks wonderful! While a more detailed story will follow, this is a taste of the Witness Hilton Arts Festival and the line up guests can expect to enjoy.
For those interested in visiting the show, kindly find details as taken off the Witness Hilton Arts Festival website:
At 6pm on Friday, patrons can enjoy An Unromantic Comedy – a funny, painful and poignant look at contemporary relationships written by Rosalind Butler, directed by Craig Freimond which stars Charmaine Weir Smith, Jaci de Villiers and Antony Coleman.
Stay on until 8.30pm and enjoy Vigil – Morris Panych’s award winning black comedy, with Graham Hopkins and Vanessa Cooke directed by Christopher Weare. In this tale of mistaken identity, Kemp, played by Graham Hopkins, arrives to make completely sure he features in the will of Aunt Grace, performed by Vanessa Cooke.
To make sure the festival ends on a buzz, on Sunday at 10am one can enjoy half price tickets to The List – Leila Henriques directs celebrated South African actress, Susan Danford, in this award-winning play by Canadian playwright Jennifer Tremblay, produced by The Baxter Theatre. Enjoy a day of festival-fun and stay on to watch the hilarious bonsai production of the The Pirates of Penzance at 6.30pm, featuring five actors and one piano, directed by Greg Homann and dubbed a witty theatrical masterpiece which takes satire and comedy to the extreme.
All production details can be found on www.hiltonfestival.co.za or like the Facebook page ~ Witness Hilton Arts Festival or follow the festival on Twitter ~ @HiltonFest.
Julian August from Wits theatre trying to concentrate
Megan Levy from Dark Horse Productions with Nick Barnes from DWR. 
After Black Coffee saw the Prolyte Tunnel Roof at Mediatech (as seen above), they purchased the structure.