Die Generaal is Mike van Graan's first play to be performed substantially in Afrikaans. Van Graan wrote the play in his home language, English, but given the primary market of the Aardklop Arts Festival, he had the actors translate the work into Afrikaans - in character - during the first week of rehearsals. This was done under the direction of Jaco Bouwer, last year's Fleur du Cap "Best Director" and the 2008 Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year for Drama.
In the tradition of his widely-acclaimed Green Man Flashing, Die Generaal is described as a thriller, with filmic elements, designed both to move audiences and stimulate them to think. It takes its name from the central character, Bolla, who brings disparate people's lives together through various crimes that he commits in his quest to become a leader in a notorious gang.
Mike graduated from UCT with a BA Honours degree in Drama and a Higher Diploma in Education. He has served in leadership capacities in various cultural NGOs, including Director of the Community Arts Project (CAP), National Projects Officer for the Congress of South African Writers (COSAW), Director of the Bartel Arts Trust (BAT) Centre in Durban and General Secretary of the National Arts Coalition. In June 1994 he was appointed as Special Adviser on Arts and Culture to the new Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, where he helped to influence the formulation of post-apartheid cultural policies. In 1996 he launched his micro-enterprise, Article 27 Arts and Culture Consultants, contracted to provide a range of services in the arts and culture sector. It takes its name from the relevant clause in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that "everyone shall have the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community and to enjoy the arts…".
Mike currently serves as the General Secretary of the Performing Arts Network of South Africa (PANSA), a national lobby to promote the performing arts and defend the rights of performing artists. He is Business and Arts South Africa (BASA)'s Cape Town representative, and was recently appointed to the Cultural Transformation Reference Group by the Western Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture to review existing and devise new cultural policies for the province. He also writes a weekly column for the Mail and Guardian.
Previous plays include The Dogs must be Crazy, Some of our Best Friends are Cultural Workers and Dinner Talk, which won the 1998 Fleur du Cap Award for Best New Script. His most recent play, Hostile Takeover, was the runner-up in both the Jury and Audience Award categories at the 2004 PANSA Festival of Reading of New Writing.

Die Generaal is your first play in Afrikaans; why did you decide to cross over?
I'm not sure that "Crossing Over" is the correct expression in this case. The themes of the play come so much more alive in Afrikaans. But mainly, it was commissioned by the Aardklop Arts Festival and their main constituency is Afrikaans. If you want to reach a community, speak to them in their language. This is what Die Generaal tries to do. I wrote it originally in English, my home language, and rather than translate it with my standard ten "hoergraad" Afrikaans, the actors translated the work in character in the first week of rehearsals under the direction of Jaco Bouwer.

What do you think makes a great play? The essential ingredients.
For me, it's a play that stays with me for a while afterwards, either emotionally in that it has moved me, or intellectually in that it has made me think, or provided me with deeper insights and understanding of the human condition.

Theatre and the arts seem to be a great passion in your life; why is this?
For many of us involved in the arts, we can't explain why. It's not the same as other jobs. It's not about status or remuneration. It is a passion. Something internal that drives one in search of truth, in search of "the bigger picture", and then of course, I'm passionate about democracy and freedom of creative expression, and about the role that the arts have to play in affirming and defending these.

What does it take to be a playwright in South Africa, compared to the States or even London?
Anyone can be a playwright; the problem is developing one's work to a decent standard, and then getting it produced. In the USA or UK, there are many script doctors and others to work with in honing one's work. Here, there are very few opportunities for rigorous feedback and script development. Writers tend to work in isolation, so often their work comes to the stage in first or second draft form, rather than having been worked and reworked, and then reworked again, having been challenged by experienced theatrical minds. Then, in terms of staging one's work, there are so many more theatres, and theatres with producing budgets in the USA and UK, whereas here there is a very limited number of theatres prepared to take any risk with one's work.

What do you think makes a great playwright?
Whatever it was that makes Shakespeare great, I guess. I don't really know. Theatre doesn't exist for playwrights; it exists for audiences. So, from their experience, I suppose it's what moves them, it's what challenges them, it's what entertains them. And audiences are different, and within one audience, there is a range of different responses depending on the education, history, class, exposure to theatre, life experience, etc of each person. Generally though, a good playwright would not only want to tell her or his truth, but to tell or explore that truth always being mindful of the audience who will experience that truth in the theatre.

What do you think producers/ theatres are looking for when searching for new scripts/ writing talent locally?
Increasingly, it's the potential of the work to deliver bums on seats. This is unfortunate, but it is true as theatres are increasingly hard-pressed financially with the authorities having taken away producing budgets. So, scripts that can deliver a market is important, not necessarily to make a profit, but at least not to lose too much. Those who have some budget, look for new voices who are saying new, interesting things, or look to "old hands" to deliver audiences with their reputations. I'd like to see more theatres investing in new work, in new writing, in original, innovative, risk-taking work, and it is taking place at some places, but not on the scale that we need.

How do you see the future of theatre in South Africa?
I think we've been through a bad period, but theatres and theatre makers have survived and simply because they have, I'm quite optimistic about the future. We now no longer rely on government as they've been such a disappointment till now, so theatre makers have found other ways of making theatre. I think that we'll start to show more courage in our work both in content and theme, but the future of theatre really is dependent on those of us involved in it to take more responsibility for invigorating it and making it sustainable.

It seems that a major problem is that audiences seem to lack film and theatre literacy. How can we educate audiences and make them more aware of theatre and film?
Theatre seems to lack audiences generally (contemporary theatre as opposed to musicals, comedy, pantomimes, etc), but I think that they are there. John Kani's Nothing but the Truth showed that. I think we need to develop new marketing strategies. We don't have the mass audiences that commercial movies and musicals have, but there are good audiences and we need to think more creatively about how to communicate with them and get them to come to theatre. Part of this is providing opportunities for them to learn about theatre from writers, actors and directors in more informal settings and forums as opposed to us being precious about theatre so that audiences come to our work, and there is no interfacing with them before or after the show. Audiences love to know more as exemplified by the popularity of discussions that Cape Town Opera has with audiences before some of their performances.

Do you have a process of writing? Some beginning writers seem to think that it happens overnight?
I don't really have a process. There are always competing items for my attention, like items that have to do with paying the rent. So, I tend to work towards deadlines as these oblige me to deliver an initial product and then it's a case of working and reworking this with the director or by myself subsequently.

Is there an easy way to success?
If so, please let me know. It would appear though, that once one has achieved relative success - read box office income and/or critical acclaim - then theatre managements are more open to your next project. But then, there is the responsibility to ensure that the quality of the next one is at least as good as the first one.

What makes you tick as a writer?
I only write a play about once per year. So, there's a lot else that makes me tick, but they all feed into the writing process. My chief concerns though are to make people think. I have an unashamed bias towards contemporary issues that people may be confronting in our society, and in writing about these things to offer new insights, to raise critical thought and certainly to make people debate afterwards. I'm a political animal, reading numerous newspapers per week, keeping in touch with what's happening in the world in order to find the human stories to interpret, understand and help us live in that world.

Where do you find your inspiration?
In what happens around me. In the issues of the day. In newspapers, television news, stories one reads about the challenges that people face when confronted with bigger issues like HIV/AIDS, crime, corruption, etc. Those are things that interest me as a writer, while not shying away from personal relationships.

Any tips/ advice for beginners?
Read other plays. Seek the advice of experienced writers and tutors. Be open to criticism. It's hard and damaging to the ego initially, but it's necessary. You don't know everything. Writing is a constant process of learning, and you'll continue learning for a long while to come, from different people. Subject your work to the rigour of people with experience in having to translate that work onto the stage.

You are writing one play after the other, how do you manage to sustain your inspiration and maintain your creativity?
A society in transition must be one of the most exciting places for a writer. There are so many contradictions, ironies and much complexity to explore. So, I'm not short of inspiration. As for creativity, I've worked in different styles - one-person multi-sketch satire, 8-person satirical play, drama, comedy drama, thrillers - so each style represents a new creative challenge and the opportunity to try something different.

Green Man Flashing enjoyed great success on stage and has been optioned for film; tell me about this?
Faith Creations saw it at the reading where it won the PANSA/UCT Drama School Festival of New Writing "Best Script" Prize and optioned it then. They renewed the option and recently obtained development funding from the NFVF for it. So, it's in the process of being adapted into a screenplay at the moment.

Any other comments?
Everyone says that there is a dearth of writers in our country, for movies and theatre in particular. We have lots of writers for our daily soapies, with many of our better theatre writers having retreated there. We need more writers, writers who are bold, technically sound and willing to try new things. I look forward to a new batch of writers emerging in the next few years.

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Visit Mike van Graan's website: www.mikevangraan.co.za


Copyright © 2005 - 2008 Daniel E. Dercksen