UJ Arts & Culture kicks off 2023 with a double bill by Jade Bowers
Two new South African scripts, two actors, two plays, one set, and one director. UJ Arts & Culture, a division of the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture (FADA), proudly presents The Paper Double-Bill directed by the award winning UJ Arts & Culture Resident Director, Jade Bowers. The production will take place at the UJ Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre on Kingsway Campus from 8 to 10 February 2023.
This experimental production features scripts from the UJ Playwriting Lab intake of 2020. A yearlong laboratory, the Playwriting Lab is designed to support the development of the new African creative content. Over the course of the programme, the playwrights were tasked with writing a 60-90 minute one-act plays. Papercuts and Waiting for Lift-Off are two of the four plays selected from the UJ Playwriting Lab.
Papercuts, a play by Tamarisk Ray Glogauer, is set in a papery world between the old and the new. Two siblings rubble through the debris of the abstract world to learn more about themselves, to find each other and complete an unnamed commission. The play delves into themes of love, loneliness, womanhood, religion, and what it means to document our stories in a burning world.
In Waiting for Lift-Off, Nomakhwezi Becker shares a story of two sisters trying to connect across oceans. The script uses language, memory, song, and paper planes, to represent the stories of how their lives unfold. They lose and find themselves in the process of figuring out if blood is thicker than the oceans that divide them.
“This process has been so rewarding to contribute to and collaborate on, as it advances the development of brand new South African theatre. I feel honoured to be directing these works that have inspired me since their inception, especially working with the brilliance of Carla Classen, Yogin Sullaphen and Ziaphora Dakile to bring these scripts to life” says Jade Bowers.
The University of Johannesburg is a leading proponent in inspiring and supporting new South African content in the arts and academic discipline. This interactive production is a testament to the out- of-the-box thinking the University of Johannesburg promotes. The production is suitable for individuals aged sixteen and above.
To reserve your space for The Paper Double-Bill, Click here to RSVP ->
Date: 8-10 February 2023
Location: UJ Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre on Kingsway Campus
About UJ Arts & Culture
UJ Arts & Culture, a division of the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture (FADA) produces and presents world-class student and professional arts programmes aligned to the UJ vision of an international university of choice, anchored in Africa, dynamically shaping the future. A robust range of arts platforms are offered on all four UJ campuses for students, staff, alumni and the general public to experience and engage with emerging and established Pan-African and international artists drawn from the full spectrum of the arts.
In addition to UJ Arts & Culture, FADA offers programmes in eight creative disciplines in art, design, and architecture, as well as being home to the NRF SARChI Chair in South African Art and Visual Culture, and the Visual Identities in Art & Design Research Centre.