FRESH FROM FEST 2015 to Play UCT Drama's Arena Theatre and Bindery Laboratory

The University of Cape Town's Drama Department presents the annual student-run theatre festival, FRESH FROM FEST, at the university's Hiddingh Campus. This year, UCT Drama will play host to five Western Cape institutions which have returned from the Grahamstown National Arts Festival as part of the Student Theatre or Schools' Festival.

FRESH FROM FEST, held in UCT's Arena Theatre and Bindery Laboratory, is an opportunity to see six productions from surrounding Western Cape institutions. This year, the productions that will be showcased include those from CityVarsity (THE PRICE OF MEAT and RAW MEAT), UCT Drama (DON'T SHOOT THE HARBINGER) University of Stellenbosch (UNRAVELLING), University of the Western Cape (ADMISSION RESERVED) and the Waterfront Theatre School (EDGES).

CityVarsity will present two productions, each performing once. THE PRICE OF MEAT, under the supervision of lecturer Rebecca Makin-Taylor, features Anray Amansure, Hein Lobcke, Kim Fester, Chiron Swarts and Robyn Williams. An exploration into the space women occupy in our society today, THE PRICE OF MEAT is a post-modern reworking of Dario Fo and Franca Rame's A WOMAN ALONE, the stories of seven women and their varying relationships with men are revealed through song, dance and physical expression. From depression, to lust, to domesticity, to twerking, the female body is a commodity onto which society places the price tag of sex, love and responsibility. But who owns it? What is the price of meat? THE PRICE OF MEAT will be performed on 24 July at 6.30pm

The second piece, RAW MEAT, is under the supervision of lecturer Rob Haxton, with Inez Robertson serving as the student director. The cast includes Lizelle Bernardo, Genna Blair, Annemie Jordaan, Alfredo Joseph, Douglas Swinerd and David Traub. RAW MEAT is the story of 20-year-old sex worker, Meat. When his father passes away abruptly, his family is ripped from their idyllic normalcy. At the time, Meat is only 13 years old and grappling with his attraction to other men. His mother, Hunger, in the throes of an unfathomable grief, tries to soothe her suffering by dressing Meat in John's clothing and re-enacting sexual scenarios from her past. As the years drag by, Hunger continues to abuse her son. When Meat finishes school, he leaves home and moves to the city but soon realises he needs money to survive and begins to work as a sex-worker. On his father's birthday, seven years after his death, Meat gets a call to meet someone at a hotel. When he arrives, he realizes the client is his mother. RAW MEAT is presented through a mostly realistic and slightly surreal series of interactions between characters in both the present day and past. This play, making use of a minimalist set, is a collection of deconstructed monologues and a tour of memories. RAW MEAT will be performed on 25 July at 4pm.

UCT Drama's DON'T SHOOT THE HARBINGER sees lecturer Mark Fleishman supervising student director Kei-Ella Loewe and cast members Ameera Conrad, Thando Mangcu, Nwabisa Plaatjie, Katya Mendelson and Khathu Ramabulana. Sand is everywhere. People are living in it - not many people - and is it really what you'd call living? Four women, alone, angry and frightened, cannot get the goddamn sand out of their ears. Carrying and dragging the remnants of that trusty old social wisdom that informs each of them, they believe that difference is the great divider. And when holy books and cars and televisions, vibrators, grandmothers' jewellery, temples and airplanes and McDonalds have all been ground up, what is that difference worth? Does this cruel and unusual punishment have a point, or did they just miss the end-of-the-world memo? Overnight the world has turned to sand, and these women wading through it, are lost at sea. DON'T SHOOT THE HARBINGER will be performed on 20 July at 6.30pm and 21 July at 8pm.

Lecturer Samantha Prigge-Pienaar supervises cast members Margaret Scott, Grace Petersen, Chenal Kock and Louise Lötter in the University of Stellenbosch's UNRAVELLING. Can human beings really change, or are we simply caught up in cycles of repeating behaviour that we adorn to appear different? UNRAVELLING makes use of object theatre, mimetic and dance techniques, multiple role-playing, and sound- and video-scapes to explore the human conditionm giving rise to questions about whether human nature is fixed and predetermined, or wilful and adaptable - or perhaps something more than both? Accessing the performers' personal body memories and recalled stories of childhood, family life, ancestry, identity and persona through improvisation and ensemble work results in imagery that is heartfelt, nuanced, evocative and intimate. The all-female cast uses phases of the moon as a metaphor to explore growing up, growing wise, growing old and growing frail. The performance challenges conventional theatrical seating arrangements: audience members are surrounded by the performance space and are invited to shift position and perspective as the metaphoric landscape unfolds and transforms around them. UNRAVELLING will be presented on 22 July at 8pm and 23 July at 6.30pm

The Gender Equity Unit of the University of the Western Cape's production is ADMISSION RESERVED. Supervising lecturer Mary Hames and student director Ayabonga Pasiya head up this workshopped production by University of the Western Cape women students, which questions the privilege of access of certain bodies to various spaces and places. Through performance, the play unveils the perils and threats that exist in certain spaces for certain embodied beings but they also show the joy of being differently raced and gendered in other spaces. These women ultimately challenge the historical, cultural, religious and academic constructed spaces for their measured exclusion of bodily beings. They speak about how overtly or covertly admission could be reserved to spaces but how access to their bodies is often being compromised through this inclusion or exclusion. They share through performance, spoken word and song how they prevent, limit or allow access to their own bodies. They ask you how you would feel when you are not allowed to enter when they lay down their terms and conditions for admission. ADMISSION RESERVED runs on 22 July at 6.30pm and 23 July at 8pm.

The Waterfront Theatre School's EDGES is directed by college lecturer Garth Tavares, with Paul Griffiths serving as supervising lecturer. The cast includes Dean de Klerk, Dirk Joubert, Nathan Kruger, Nicky Rossouw, Ally White, Kristin-Anne Breytenbach, Thembi Benenengu, Jocelyn Roskilly and Catherine Hill. Written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, EDGES is a contemporary song cycle about coming of age, growth and self-discovery. A metaphor for the feeling one gets in those moments when one is teetering on the edge of one's life, EDGES is about coming face to face with issues such as love, commitment, identity and purpose. Featuring a score of hit numbers including 'The Facebook Song', 'I Hmm You' and 'Perfect', EDGES is bound to strike a chord with anyone who has felt the pains of growing up. EDGES takes place on 24 July at 8pm and 25 July at 2.30pm.

This year, the fourth-year theatre making students who host the event are encouraging patrons to "Think/Act/Live/Be Fresh" - the slogan for the 2015 festival. This embodies the spirit of FRESH FROM FEST: fresh ideas turned into fresh theatre by fresh theatre makers. The festival continues to be an opportunity for student creatives to meet and engage with one another through their respective pieces of work. As such, each production is encouraged to hold a short Q&A session with cast and crew after their 20:00 performance.

The Arena Bar will be transformed into our Fresh Hub - between each show the Fresh from Fest team will host small-scale events, the nature of which will differ each night. In conjunction with the UCT Drama Department's Performers' Student Council three larger events will be held after the final performance of the evening, the nature of which will be confirmed at a later date.

To book for FRESH FROM FEST, contact Nabeelah Khan at the Little Theatre Office on (021) 480 7129. Tickets prices are R30 for each performance and only cash at the door will be accepted.