The programme reflects on the past, but it also showcases African creativity today with new collaborations with artists from other countries.

The National Arts Festival in Makhanda commemorates 50 years this year, and the Curated Programme reflects on universal themes that rang true at its founding and all subsequent editions, while it interrogates the urgency of distinct challenges particular to the here and now.

Selected through a process of application and curatorial panel review, the Curated Programme is a creative litmus test of society and a reflection of the artists' lenses on South Africa and the world. It is a dialogue of ideas in a restless era as world orders shift, violence escalates and uncertainty prevails on the cusp of a post-truth world.

"To encompass all that the festival could and has ever been in a landmark year such as this is an overwhelming task and underlies the festival's role in breaking out new work and reimagining older ones," says artistic director Rucera Seethal.

"So, in creating this programme, we have played with the juxtaposition of old and new and the emergence of ambitious ideas that bring the festival into a new era of cross-border and international collaboration."

Justice and hope

Questions and theories about justice, both environmental and social, feature prominently. Empatheatre employs a research-based methodology for creating works that...