Drama for Life speaks to PJ Sabbagha
Just days before the launch of the Drama for Life Festival entitled Changing the face of HIV; changing our consciousness, amidst rehearsals schedules and final preparations our reporter caught up with PJ Sabbagha to find out what his collaboration with Drama for Life scholars, Deep Skin has in store for audience members.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what drives you?
PJ Sabbagha: I’m an artist, a choreographer and best known for the When Life Happens festival that takes place at the end of ever year. About my background I started studying theatre but then developed an interest in dance and physical theatre. My passion lies in the latter and in doing issue based work.
You talk about doing issue based art and from the recent work I’ve been exposed to you seem to touch a lot on HIV and AIDS, can you explain this?
PJ Sabbagha: I have been affected by HIV and AIDS on a personal level which is why my work centres on this. I feel that there is a desperate need to equip the infected and affected to better manage their lives and I strongly believe that art has a role play in this regard. This is another primary motivation for the, When Life Happens Festival.
What is the When life Happens Festival and how does this relate to partnering with the Drama for Life Festival?
PJ Sabbagha: The When Life Happens Festival now in its 8th year aims to create the highest level of art that speaks to HIV and AIDS; it is about making people more conscious without being didactic.
My interest in collaborating with the Drama for Life Festival is because I strongly believe that we share the same vision and therefore dialogue should naturally take place between the two festivals. It is my wish that other such festivals will join in on the collaboration so that in a city like Johannesburg you have ongoing dialogue throughout the year making sure that such issues stay in people’s minds.
Explain more about the collaborative piece you’ve been working on with Drama for Life scholars.
PJ Sabbagha: As you are aware, the Drama for Life Festival is already in collaboration with the Not Alone International Exhibition. We are therefore through the piece Deep Skin trying to create a performance response to the exhibition. Through this 25 minute piece we wish to explore intimacy, skin, touch, human loss and with the opening images we pay tribute to the resilience of African children and the ability of people to bounce back. Our intention is not to be serious in getting the message across. I believe that by thinking out of the box, being crazy and mad in our performance we get to think of HIV in a different way.
What can people expect to take away from the piece?
PJ Sabbagha: I do encourage people to attend as we’re using a different approach in addressing HIV and AIDS. The piece is fun and playful and at the same time thought provoking. On what the audience can take away well, you can never be sure as each individual interprets the piece differently. That for me is the exciting part about it!
The performance Deep Skin will take place on the August 22 during the Drama for Life Festival Launch running from 2-4pm. For more information contact Inge James on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (011 717-4658 / 082 771 1340) or visit the Drama for Life Website on http://www.dramaforlife.co.za