I am grateful for this opportunity to write about my experiences on the camp. Mrs Markram says that we do not always voice or show our appreciation. It is easier to write than talk, especially to you, mam. I appreciate everything that you and Mr Markram have done on this camp. I had the time of my life. I was surrounded by family; I had fun; I learnt a lot of Drama – I could improve my skills; I saw places that I would never have seen in my life; I went to theatres and saw different styles of theatre; I met the Blum family and was touched by their generosity -I have never met white people like that – I celebrated my 18th birthday on the camp and could not asked for anything more special than this; I had endless conversations with Tim, Jonathan and Merlin and Herr Blum – all because you took this upon yourself and afforded us with this opportunity. I apologise if it seems as if we take everything for granted and I am saddened by the fact that it sometimes seemed as if you did not enjoy it, were stressed out, never taking in the wonder of each moment. Nobody could have arranged the camp better than you and you should give yourself credit for the success of the camp.
When I want to say thank you, in the past, you always brush away the gesture and say you don’t do sentimental or cheesy! But mam, life is made up of the sentimental and cheesy moments, so allow yourself to embrace such moments. Stop being iron woman and allow yourself to enjoy your successes. You always tell us not to be so hard on ourselves, yet you struggle to follow your own good advice.
I had a very, very, very good time at the camp. I thoroughly enjoyed our production – first the one we worked on at school, the improvisations, the research, the trying out of different theatre conventions – I like the collaborative style of mam’s work, the fact that you allow each cast member to contribute an idea, even allowing ex-students to come and assist – my how well we have done to create something so special. I enjoyed working on both the site-specific piece as well as the inside performance. There are no words to describe how much I enjoyed acting and especially on a camp like this with strangers. I enjoyed to see how countries make theatre, the more wordy, intellectual style of the Germans as appose to the energetic, physical style of the South Africans. It was such a great honour to perform our outside performance to Mrs Blum on Monday. She cried and it was a priceless moment for me when I saw it in her eyes that we had touched her heart through the stories that we have told. It will be a dream fulfilled if we can show our production in Germany in 2018.
So, on Day 10 we pretty much wrapped up our site-specific performance and we felt very proud of it. We then freshened up for the night’s theatre performance of Scenes of an Execution by British playwright, Howard Barker at the Baxter Theatre. Mrs Markram warned us that his plays can be difficult to digest, but to our surprise, it was a most enjoyable play. I liked the topic of the role of the artist in society and how the church and state play a role in that. The acting was good – I could learn so much about how she delivered her lines. The best part was of course when, after the show, this famous South African actress called us up to the stage and allowed us to take photos with her. Thank you, Mrs M for giving us a great chance to explore theatre.