{"id":2006,"date":"2018-04-30T11:12:23","date_gmt":"2018-04-29T23:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/?p=2006"},"modified":"2018-04-30T11:12:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-29T23:12:23","slug":"massey-drama-students-explore-free-speech-and-control-in-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/2018\/04\/30\/massey-drama-students-explore-free-speech-and-control-in-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Massey drama students explore free speech and control in play"},"content":{"rendered":"

The importance of speaking out\u00a0and the pervasive effect of keeping silent transcends the ages\u00a0in a play being staged in Palmerston North.<\/p>\n

Massey University students will tap into Greek mythology and the #metoo movement for their production,\u00a0The Love of the Nightingale.<\/em><\/p>\n

The 1988 play by\u00a0Timberlake\u00a0Wertenbaker is based on the Greek myth o\"\"<\/a>f Philomele, who was raped and silenced brutally by her brother-in-law Tereus.<\/p>\n

The play touches on themes of feminism, silence and power, as Philomele regains her voice.\u00a0 Director and senior theatre tutor Rachel\u00a0Lenart\u00a0said using Greek mythology was a great way to highlight contemporary problems.<\/p>\n

“We always try to do something with political and social resonance.<\/p>\n

“With the #MeToo\u00a0movement very much alive, it’s an interesting time for\u00a0us to perform this play.”<\/p>\n

It challenges\u00a0the audience to think about times when they should have spoken up about something but didn’t.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>“The characters are always on stage watching in, like society watching the action unfold. They’re allowed to react accordingly,” Lenart said.<\/p>\n

She drew inspiration from a quote by German playwright\u00a0Bertolt\u00a0Brecht.<\/p>\n

“Art is not a mirror to reflect society, but a hammer with which to shape it.”<\/p>\n

The cast is made up of first-year students studying\u00a0drama in performance, which can also be taken by older students\u00a0for their elective studies.<\/p>\n

It provides an\u00a0opportunity for new actors to mix with and learn from more established actors in a safe environment.<\/p>\n

Lenart said interest in theatre at Massey is on the rise, and past students are returning to volunteer behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

“Massey is one of few options for theatre in Palmerston North. It’s a lot of responsibility.<\/p>\n

“You don’t have to move to Wellington to do theatre. We are as interesting as anywhere.”<\/p>\n

The Love of the Nightingale<\/em>\u00a0will be performed at Massey University’s Sir Geoffrey Peren Auditorium, Thursday and Friday, at 7pm. Entry is by koha.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The importance of speaking out\u00a0and the pervasive effect of keeping silent transcends the ages\u00a0in a play being staged in Palmerston North. Massey University students will tap into Greek mythology and the #metoo movement for their production,\u00a0The Love of the Nightingale. The 1988 play by\u00a0Timberlake\u00a0Wertenbaker is based on the Greek myth of Philomele, who was raped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,100,3,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-expressive-arts-subject","category-news","category-palmerston-north","category-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2006"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2009,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006\/revisions\/2009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.massey.ac.nz\/expressivearts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}