Play tells sad tale of women abuse

STAR: Popular South Indian classical dancer and choreographer Sivani Chinappan makes her theatrical debut in Vivian Moodley's A Cookie in the Kitchen.

STAR: Popular South Indian classical dancer and choreographer Sivani Chinappan makes her theatrical debut in Vivian Moodley's A Cookie in the Kitchen.

Published Mar 18, 2014

Share

WOMEN have been placed at the top of the agenda in Vivian Moodley’s A Cookie in the Kitchen which is set to run at The Catalina Theatre from March 24.

Having a heart for the abused, writer/director Moodley explained how he got to writing this play and tells us more about the work.

“I’ve written plays about women and child abuse over the years and the Advice Desk for Abused Women came and saw my productions and said it was the same kind of work they are doing and said maybe I could get involved on the education side and produce plays for them.

“So I started producing plays on women abuse. I’ve been writing plays, telling the stories from the perpetrator’s point of view and also from the victim’s point of view.

“I wrote A Cookie in the Kitchen a while back. I had someone do the role and it was short-lived. I also went away to Joburg, and we couldn’t sustain it partly because we didn’t have the support.

“So I shelved it for a while and when we started doing Bhagwan Gave Me This Life and got the (Catalina) theatre available, it was a natural progression of things that we had to do more one-handers and two-handers.

“And woman and child abuse has become so out of hand, this play is still relevant, so we’re doing it. We’ve reproduced it. I’ve re-written some parts.”

Moodley said the play deals with physical and emotional abuse, and oppression of women. “It’s frightening when you talk to women who are being abused, just how bad the emotional abuse can be as well.”

South Indian classical dancer/choreographer, Sivani Chinappan (Botoo, Sunshine Mall) takes the lead.

“When we auditioned and she came in, I took one look and I said if this girl does a good reading, she’s the one I want to work with… She has that presence. And while chatting with her I could see that she would give me something I could work with.”

On a closing note he said his main objective was to get families talking about women abuse. “I want people to have the conversation around women abuse. I always believe that the perpetrator is groomed from the time he’s a boy in the household.

“Mothers and fathers don’t have that conversation that these things that men do to women are bad and unacceptable.

“I’m hoping when they see what happens in the theatre, that they will now have that conversation at home, plant that seed in that growing boy that this is not right.”

• A Cookie in the Kitchen runs March 24 to 31 nightly at 7pm at The Catalina Theatre. Book through Computicket or phone 0861 915 8000.

WIN WIN WIN|

Five Tonight readers will win one of five pairs of tickets to see A Cookie in the Kitchen at the Catalina Theatre, Wilsons Wharf, on March 25. To stand a chance of winning, SMS “Cookie DN” and your name to 33963 before 9am tomorrow. SMSes cost R1.50 and winners will be notified telephonically.

Related Topics: