Living Dead Girl, a dynamic experimental MA project constructed as a response to violence against women whilst also advocating women empowerment will be performed at the DUT Courtyard Theater, Ritson Campus, Gate 7, from Saturday this week (March 16, 2013).
The production, featuring 32 characters played by 17 DUT Drama and Production Studies students, ends on Tuesday next week (March, 21, 2013). Written by DUT Drama Studies Junior Lecturer Marcia Peschke as a collection of monologues, poetry and short satirical sketches, Living Dead Girl additionally features alternative music arranged by Dumisani Mkhize, a third-year Drama Studies student, who heads the show’s musical accompaniment. Music by alternative artists Amanda Palmer, Antony and the Johnsons, VNV Nation, Blue October, Rammstein, as well as numbers from the Dr Horrible internet musical and the movie The Fifth Element is featured on the show.
“In 2012, I wrote an auto ethnographic piece titled Living Dead Girl. This was a project given to the Masters students in my class at UKZN’s Drama and Performance Studies programme. The objective of the project was to explore how we as practitioners situated ourselves in our practice and how we had come to find ourselves in the field of drama. I wanted to then respond to other women’s experiences and began to put my thoughts into a script that would advocate the need to address violent crimes against women and encourage social consciousness,” said Peschke.
The cast includes first, second and third-year drama students. Peschke said the production should appeal to people from all walks of life because “we are all stakeholders in the move to critically examining issues affecting women.”
Peschke believes that not only will the production showcase talent at DUT; it will also be advantageous to the Department’s students. “If I have encouraged the cast to actively participate in social issues and to connect with the audience, then they carry with them the confidence they need in getting others to believe in what they are doing. I think that if you believe first in your own voice as an artist, you will believe in connecting with others. As performers, I believe this production will prove a significant experience and one they carry with them into their practice,” she said.
This production carries an age restriction of 16, with a warning of adult themes. The show kicks off at 7pm. Safe parking is available at Gate 4, Steve Biko Campus, opposite the Courtyard Theatre. Tickets cost R35.00 per person. Student night is on Tuesday March 19, 2013.
– Nikita Morgan-Smith
Pictured: Kagisho Tsimakwane who plays a transgender sympathetic to the plight of women.
