Student play heads to Germany
The show runs from 14 to18 March at DUT's Courtyard Theatre (Steve Biko/Mansfield Road) at 7pm nightly.
AN innovating telling of one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies will be staged at DUT for a short season before heading off to Germany as part of an innovative global exchange/research programme to honour the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
Prof Debbie Lutge designs and directs a cast of 12 third- and second-year DUT drama and production students. Michael Broderick is responsible for the lighting.
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedic play by William Shakespeare, generally considered one of Shakespeare’s most enduring comedies, combining elements of robust hilarity with more serious meditations on honour, shame and court politics.
The DUT version travels to Essen-Werden in Germany to join productions from Krakow (Poland), Melbourne (Australia), Germany and Durban. It is the first production from Africa to take part in this innovative international Shakespeare project. They will perform at the Wolkwang Shakespeare Festival, to which participants must be invited to produce collaborative art.
The participants all perform exactly the same Shakespeare, uniquely interpreted by individual global directors, then merge and produce the same Shakespeare once again with all directors and international casts collaborating.
“Our production is centred in acknowledging African artistic roots with sets and stage floor comprised of cardboard boxes painted in fluorescent quasi-Ndebele designs, costumes fusing contemporary and traditional designs, an occasional isiZulu translation, gumboot through to pansula dancing, and a fusion of traditional and original contemporary African songs. This production’s exploratory process involved the creativity of the student cast, derived a workshop process where cast explored text and history, workshopped creating original songs and choreographing dances as well as painting their own designs on sets designed by myself,” said Lutge.
The festival happens every two years and this is the eighth time the festival is being held. The show runs from 14 to 18 March at the Courtyard Theatre (Steve Biko/Mansfield Road) at 7pm nightly and thereafter travels to Germany. On returning, the show has been invited to feature as part of the Uhuru Festival at Wushwini.
