{"id":1508,"date":"2016-07-08T19:09:55","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T17:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=1508"},"modified":"2016-07-08T19:09:55","modified_gmt":"2016-07-08T17:09:55","slug":"real-missing-the-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=1508","title":{"rendered":"Real?: Missing the Mark"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kay<\/a>
Kay Dewes in Real? Photo: CuePix\/Jane Berg – NAF 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve written a lot about feminism and the patriarchy these past few days, because the works I\u2019ve seen have dealt with these topics. But I wonder if I\u2019ll ever stop writing about fighting the patriarchy, or if we\u2019ll get to a point when the works aren\u2019t as necessary because there\u2019s been a miraculous victory.<\/p>\n

Watching Real?<\/em>, a physical theatre offering from young theatre makers Riandi Malan and Kay Dewes, directed by Peraldo Senekal, I\u2019m reminded that women\u2019s rights are as burning an issue as ever.<\/p>\n

And the team does well to bring these issues to light, albeit reduced to some preachiness in most parts. I like their ideas around writing on the body. In the beginning a projection of a woman (Dewes I think) is covered in text \u2013 all the names and instructions and rules that girls and women are told to abide by. It\u2019s a powerful image about how deeply ingrained and entrenched are notions of gender and performativity. About what is real beneath that.<\/p>\n

The ideas are there, with good intentions, and in some moments not too badly brought to life. Whispering \u201cscream\u201d instead of shouting it. Good. Wearing a sad face during the acoustic cover of Girls Just Want To Have Fun \u2013 highlighting pretence and faked happiness. Good. The dark and sinister reworking of Mary Had A Little Lamb \u2013 good!<\/p>\n

But the work just didn\u2019t hit the right marks to make it good overall. For starters: too long, way too long. The message and monologue style becomes repetitive and the audience tunes out. It\u2019s not a good theatrical tactic to drill home a \u2018message\u2019. It\u2019s far more effective to allow the message to float through a story, or sink in through emotive imagery.<\/p>\n

Instead, many of the statement\/speeches were delivered in an obvious way, encapsulated by the clich\u00e9d physical box on stage wherein the women are boxed.<\/p>\n

The acting and performance work needs attention. Of course, this is due to there being no characters as such, and being left to simply \u201cbe impassioned\u201d about what you\u2019re saying\u2026 it doesn\u2019t ring any empathetic bells. And so, I know the content is of dire importance, but it could simply\u00a0have been delivered in a pamphlet.<\/p>\n

Most of the monologues about \u201cI want to spread my wings and fly\u201d or \u201cbeauty doesn\u2019t last forever\u201d etc., can be cut. They don\u2019t add anything to make an audience empathetic to the cause. Instead we feel lectured and that\u2019s the easiest way to lose an audience quickly. Develop the moments that are understated and subtle \u2013 the parts that don\u2019t involve you explaining in monologue why patriarchy is bad \u2013 and there could be some potential in Real?<\/em><\/p>\n

– Sarah Roberson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Real? is on tomorrow 09 July at 20.30 at the B2 Arena. Programme notes & bookings here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve written a lot about feminism and the patriarchy these past few days, because the works I\u2019ve seen have dealt with these topics. But I wonder if I\u2019ll ever stop … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}