DFL Human Rights and Social Justice Season
February 14, 2012
The Human Rights and Social Justice Season:
Drama for Life (DFL) Human Rights and Social Justice Season is presented by the DFL Company Laboratory and the DFL Human Rights and Social Justice Project, curated by Warren Nebe. The season seeks to contribute toward a dialogue about human rights and social justice in Southern Africa. Our season aims to speak to complex political, social and environmental issues that impact our everyday lives. This season of six works will showcase five young professional directors in their original works. These directors will stage five plays and an installation that focus on specific human rights and social justice issues. The works will focus on mental health, trafficking, sexual harassment, environmental human rights, and political and social justice.
Programme:
“Can’t see the forest for the trees”
Co-creator & Director- Tarryn Lee
COP 17 Installation
21,23,24 Feb from 17:00 to 20:00
22 & 24 Feb from 10:00 to 14:00
25 Feb from 18:00 to 20:00
venue: WITS SCHOOL OF ARTS FOYER
A personalised multi-media response to an environmental melt-down. “Can’t see the forest for the trees” DEFINITION: A stringent focus on the detail and not the larger {collective} picture. Through visual conversation of object, sound and image animation, this multi-media project is a personal response to awareness’s and misguided intentions experienced at the COP 17 Summit held in Durban last year (Nov-Dec 2011). Can’t see the forest for the trees pokes curiosity at the most questionable (and problematic) circumstances that global political powers have in store for this planet. Global warming is becoming a ‘hot’ topic, but is it snowballing out of possible human control? What on earth is going on…
“Capturing Sanity”
Written and directed by: Pusetso Thibedi
21 Feb @ 13:15 & 20:00
23 & 25 Feb @ 20:00
22 & 24 Feb @18:30
venue: DOWNSTAIRS THEATRE
“Capturing Sanity” looks at the various ways in which the body can be used as a tool or medium of storytelling. Looking at various ways in which to tell a story, the actor’s body and voice are used as a vessel that takes the audience on a journey of imagination and hope as the three characters Gabriel, Softy and Angelica (patients in the “Ordinary“ psychiatric hospital) take you through an experience of nature and at times nurture. This is a compassionate look into the lives of people who struggle with mental health. Share in laughter as one character goes down memory lane, live in hope as the other dreams of a rather close, yet distant lover, and cry with the man who misses his mother. What is an adventure without the thrill of conflicting emotions and the unexpected twists that leave you trying to figure out what just happened? Is that possible? Or could this just be a tale so confusing and complex that the simplicity of its form confuses the listener more than it does the storyteller?
“Zimbo!”
Written and directed by: Bheki Ndlovu
21 & 23 Feb @ 20:00
22 & 24 Feb @18:30
25 Feb @ 13:15 & 20:00
venue: AMPHITHEATRE
“Zimbo!” focuses on the plight/curse that has engulfed Zimbabwe and its people. The play exposes the stories of various characters to reveal a crisis that calls for urgent attention. The characters express their honest desires, their fears and their aspirations and yet display a disturbing disconnection from their country as they imagine the coming of their own Mandela to redeem Zimbabwe. Thembile Tshuma- from Zimbabwe and Cornet Mamabolo- from South Africa tell different stories from the heart of a troubled people. They deliver poignant and humorous stories in a well packed manner that transports the audience into the illusion of Zimbabwe. Cornet and Thembile play various characters from young boys to adults in a nuanced and exquisite manner- employing song, dance and transformation, the actors create a theatrical journey through Zimbabwe.
“February 32nd Movement”
Written and directed by: Bheki Ndlovu
21 Feb @ 13:15
22 & 24 Feb @ 20:00
23 & 25 Feb @ 18:30
venue: THE NUNNERY
February 32nd Movement
“February 32nd Movement” is a story about the life of a man and a country’s destiny. It takes the form of a birthday interview where the man himself looks back at his life as the leader of his country and admits his life, weakness and strengths are so intertwined with the life of his people and their collective identity and being. When he is asked his age he mentions that of country but later says that he is 32 with his country and 88 alone. He claims that he was created by his countrymen who are too lazy to create their own identity and have abdicated the responsibility to himself who has willingly taken the responsibility with much zeal and joy. He argues vociferously that he is no racist or tribalist but that his countrymen are the ones who exhibited these vices and only sold them to the nation for political expediency. At the time of the interview he admits and bemoans the rot bedeviling his country, and vows that the only way out for the whole SADC region and Africa is for total rot, so that out of the rot may germinate and emerge a better collective being.
“Revolution between my thighs”
Written and Directed by: Khutjo Green
21 & 25 Feb @ 18:30
22 & 24 Feb @ 20:00
23 Feb @ 13:15 & 18:30
venue: SITE SPECIFIC (meet in front of the Wits Theater entrance)
“Revolution between My Thighs” is a minor illustration of the commencement of an entrant into the sex industry. It depicts the ways in which an entrant is lured into a world of sex and money, using her background, environment, circumstances, her dreams hopes and desires, which are then shattered when she is dropped off at a brothel. What is this young girl to make of the act of sex, how is she to negotiate the changes and violations in her body as well as the transactions that take place through her, in her and around her body? How is she to relate to herself, the other girls and the men that visit her?
“Nasty Burn”
Written by Mabulana MD
Directed by Moses D Rasekele
21 & 25 Feb @ 20:00
22 & 24 Feb @ 18:30
23 Feb @ 13:15 & 20:00
venue: THE NUNNERY“Nasty Burn” encourages women to stand up against the abuse that they experience at the hands of men in their workplaces. It attempts to empower women to realize their strength against men and encourages them to join hands in supporting each other when there are crises affecting them. It also attempts to give men a wake- up call and make them aware that they are not always in the right, that they should not abuse their power and status, and that they should respect women and treat them as equals in the workplace.
The season is curated by the DFL Company Laboratory which is an innovative practice-based research project in line with Wits Transformation principles and contemporary world class University practices with regard to creative research outputs. The season is supported and Funded by the Wits Transformation Office and the Carnegie Foundation.
Tickets price:
R30 students and pensioners,
R50 Adults
10% discount group booking (10 people)
For more Information, please contact:
Joe Teffo
DFL Company Laboratory
Cell: 072 690 9907
DFL Office: 011 717 4726