Will Shakespeare’s heroines pass the test?
The play explores the space between the classically heroic, masculine plot-lines.
A STAGE two-hander entitled The Space Between will be held at UKZN’s Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, on 26 and 27 September. The show is a production of AFDA, the Durban film, television, performance, business innovation and computer technology school. The Space Between is written by Janet van Eeden, directed by Clinton Marius and stars Trent Moffet and Mishka Gounden. In The Bechdel test will be applied to Shakespeare’s best-known female characters, from Juliet, to Lady Macbeth, to Portia, to the tempestuous Kate.
His test analyses whether a story features two women, whether these two women talk to each other, and whether they discuss something other than a man if they speak. Will Shakespeare’s heroines pass this test if it were applied to them? If not, what are they going to do about it?
The play explores the space between the classically heroic, masculine plot-lines and aims to suggest other possible scenarios for the women in Shakespeare’s work. It is performed by AFDA Durban Live Performance Honours students Mishka Gounden and Trent Moffet who were both part of the film Halfway House which won a Simon Sabela Award in 2015. Moffet also won the AFDA Best Actor Award and Gounden was part of the play Iphigenia at Aulis which won the AFDA Best Stage Production Award at the 2015 AFDA Award ceremony.
Tickets are R40 for adults and R20 for scholars and pensioners and are available at the door.
