Love of the Nightingale 2022

Title

Love of the Nightingale 2022

Department

Theatre

Production Type

Fourth Year Acting Student Production See all items with this value
Advanced Diploma Student Project See all items with this value

Description

The Love of the Nightingale tells the story of two sisters, Procne and Philomele, daughters to King Pandion of Athens, whose lives are turned upside down after the elder daughter Procne is married to Tereus, King of Thrace, and taken to live among his people. A devastating chain of events is set in motion when Procne asks Tereus to return to Athens to fetch Philomele so that she may join her in Thrace. After a horrifying act of violence on the long journey, Philomele is literally and figuratively silenced, and must ultimately transform in the face of trauma in order to reclaim her voice and finally reunite with her sister.

Originally commissioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Timberlake Wertenbaker’s adaptation of this classic Greek myth is a profound feminist examination of patriarchal power, cultures of silent complicity, and overcoming cycles of violence and abuse through symbolic transformation.

“What is a myth”, the Chorus reminds us, but “the oblique image of an unwanted truth, reverberating through time”? This story is important to us because of its continuing relevance to our collective worlds, and the uncomfortable truths about our own cultures of violence and misogyny that it forces us to confront. If power is enunciated through the violence of nations and the men who lead them, and complicit silence its enabler, this play challenges us to intervene in the seemingly banal, timeless continuity of that violence by giving voice, bearing witness, and insisting on other possibilities.

Script Type

Scripted

Year Created

2022

Opening Date

12 October 2022

Closing Date

15 October 2022

Start Time

20h00
15h00 (15/10/2022)

Content Warning

This play contains depictions of violence and sexual assault and is best suited for mature audiences.

Performance Venue

The Little Theatre

Geographic Location of Performance

Cape Town

Producer

CTDPS

Director

Mwenya Kabwe
Mbongeni N. Mtshali

Choreographer

Jacqueline Kehilwe Manyaapelo

Text By

Timberlake Wertenbaker

Cast

Nomfundo Selepe See all items with this value
Atara Jawahir See all items with this value
Evan Marinakos See all items with this value
Hannah Fredericks See all items with this value
Jock Kleynhans See all items with this value
Jake Maisel See all items with this value
Valentino Valentyn See all items with this value
Liphelo Matthews See all items with this value
Tariq Haffegee See all items with this value
Zachary Esau See all items with this value
Jodine Ockers See all items with this value
Lusanda Soboyise See all items with this value
Ntsimedi Gwangwa See all items with this value
Stephanie O’Keeffe See all items with this value
Katya Allan See all items with this value
Andisa Bulo See all items with this value

Vocal Coach

Morné Steyn

Set Designer

Lungile Cindi

Lighting Designer

Ronel Jordaan

Costume Designer

Leigh Bishop

Stage Manager

Namhla Blou

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