King David’s got talent, Culture Fest shows

Students who excel in the arts have “their moment to shine” at the King David High Schools annual Culture Fest, said head of culture at King David Linksfield, Claudia Caldeira.

King David High School Linksfield (KDL) and Victory Park held their Culture Fests this month, with Victory Park’s festival running from 1 to 8 September, and Linksfield’s from 8 to 11 September.

They celebrate students who dedicate their time to the plethora of cultural subjects and extracurricular activities offered by the schools.

“These kids deserve a space to showcase skills that they work on every single day, whether it’s practising musical instruments, writing, or performance. This hard work isn’t always recognised,” said Caldeira. Additionally, the experience of participating in cultural activities such as public speaking or debating gives students “skills that will be incredibly valuable in their future lives and careers”, she said.

Sunday’s market and talent showcase was a highlight of the event at Linksfield. The student-run market boasted stalls with various snacks and activities such as water balloon painting, pot plant decorating, and face painting. At the centre of it all was live outdoor entertainment from KDL’s Got Talent Showcase, which featured four bands formed by students across the grades, singers, solo musicians, poetry readings, and a duet from King David’s own Mrs Debra Mizrachi and Mr Peter Szewach. Just next to the market, inside The Studios, improv and public speaking activities were held, as well as an art, pottery, and photography installation.

After the market, parents and students were invited to watch a performance of Tom Stoppard’s Dogg’s Hamlet, which was originally directed and performed by the students at this year’s Festival of Excellence in Dramatic Arts, at which it won merit certificates for comedy (full cast); directing (Grey Kerem); sound (Ethan Atie); and costume and styling (Leah Kerr-Phillips). The short, absurdist piece plays with language, particularly the perception among some students that understanding Shakespeare is like trying to learn a different language. The first section of the play is performed in a made-up language, known as Dogg, which gives completely different meanings to arbitrary English words. Then, the characters perform a highly condensed version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, comedically highlighting the most well-known quotes and intense dramatic moments, and for the first time, the audience can understand the language in the play.

On Monday evening, the school hosted a one-act play competition, featuring six short plays selected or written by the students themselves, who were then given full creative control over direction, props, set, and lighting. The performances ranged from single soliloquist to full comedy ensembles, covering a diverse variety of subject matter from blind dates and school science fairs to a solemn story of a Holocaust victim, to depictions of marriage and family. The winning play of the evening was No Signal, an original story that painted the picture of a family in crisis – the crisis being their momentary loss of Wi-Fi connection. Most audience members could relate to its chaotic sibling dynamics or frantic Facebook mom. Other awards such as best actors, direction, and set design were announced, and each play received encouraging feedback from the adjudicator.

The “Praat Afrikaans of Hou Jou Bek” eisteddfod was held at King David Victory Park on 10 September. Each Afrikaans class from Grades 8 to 10 at KDL prepared a poem, and competed against each other.

“We like to include the eisteddfod as part of our Culture Fest because it incorporates one of our national languages with cultural activities,” said Caldeira. “It’s something that our Afrikaans teachers are really passionate about, and it allows them to bring a bit more fun into the subject.”

The final activity of the Culture Fest was “Model UN” debating, in which groups of students are allocated different countries and tasked with debating various issues.

In the King David Victory Park Culture Fest, teachers shared their flair in Teachers Got Talent. There was a mixed martial arts workshop and an afternoon with Banyana Banyana goalkeeper Kaylin Swart. They held a Mamma Mia Movie Night and had a Clash of the Titans wrestling event, among other fabulous, unique, and fun events.