With the festive season and summer holidays in full swing, numerous events and activities are available across South Africa.
KwaZulu Natal
The ballet called A Christmas Carol: The Story of Scrooge, presented by The Playhouse Company, in partnership with Cape Town City Ballet is inspired by the famous Charles Dickens novella of the same name. The production tells the story of the elderly, mean and miserable Ebenezer Scrooge who is given the opportunity to reassess the error of his ways to become a kinder man.
Place: Playhouse Opera Theatre, Durban.
Date: December 6-8.
Time: Friday and Saturday: 19h30; Sunday: 15h00.
Gauteng
Gauteng’s theatrical adventure, ‘The Nutcracker’s Winter Circus Parade of The Animals’, celebrates interactive illusions combined with animal conservation. The wonderful world of animals will showcase theatrical performances by acclaimed actors, rather than featuring live animals.
Place: Centre Court, Sandton City.
Date: December 11-January 5.
Time: Daily performances at 10h30, 12h30, 15h30 and 17h30.
There’s more Christmas magic for Gauteng visitors with The Fantasy Garden, which is enhanced by Christmas lights. The garden includes four smaller gardens, each with its own theme. There’s an arid, water-wise garden, a more traditional green landscape, a vertical display and a bushveld-style garden in partnership with The Boucher Legacy, an organisation that fights rhino poaching.
Place: Piazza at Melrose Arch.
Date: Until December 22.
Time: Monday-Saturday, 09h00-19h00; Sundays and December 16, 09h00-17h00.
Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape offers a different spin on the traditional festive lights with its New Year’s Eve Lantern Parade. A powerful symbol of hope and beauty, the parade serves as a joyous celebration where visitors can make their own lanterns and join the parade for a night walk through Nieu-Bethesda.
Place: Bethesda Arts Centre, Nieu-Bethesda.
Date: December 31.
Time: 20h00.
Cape Town
On a par with the vibrancy of Brazil’s Rio Carnival, the Kaapse Klopse (or Cape Town Minstrel Carnival) is a spirited cultural music and dance celebration that explodes on to the Mother City’s streets. The Carnival marches through the city’s roads from Zonnebloem to the Bo-Kaap, dressed in glittering costumes, strumming on banjos and blowing on trumpets.
Place: From Keizersgracht Street in District Six to Rose Street in the Bo-Kaap.
Date: January 2.
Time: 12h00-22h00.
