With this bursary Notcutt was able to create, produce and direct her original work between you & me, which will be performed at Theatre Arts Admin Collective from 17 to 21 August 2010.
The bursary was initiated earlier this year and is a collaboration between the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA), Baxter Theatre Centre and Theatre Arts Admin Collective (TAAC), and offers three directors annually the opportunity of creating new and original South African plays under the mentorship of experienced directors. The award-winning Lara Foot, CEO and Artistic head of the Baxter has mentored Notcutt during the process.
One of the aims of the bursary is to affirm directing as a prospective career choice; creating a space for emerging directors to keep developing their craft through working with a mentor. The mentorship programme not only ensures that skills are continuously developed but connects emergent and established directors to each other ensuring a transfer and exchange of knowledge and skills.
Notcutt said, “This bursary is an incredible helping hand on the road to turning childhood dreams into reality, and for that, I am extremely grateful. That such a bursary exists is really unbelievable. It is a special award, as it provides young directors with the chance to learn from mentors such as Lara Foot.”
between you & me is loosely based on a third year project while she was at university when the play was a 15-minute dance/movement piece which started as a duet and in the end included two other dream characters. “In returning to the work, I am hoping to create the duet that I originally wanted to create in that project – a piece about two people, trapped between reality and fantasy,” says Notcutt. The play explores the relationship between a man (played by Jaco Nothnagel) and a woman (Tarn de Villiers), brought together by the unknown excitement of each others’ worlds. In the spaces between their words, live truth, desire, fantasy and reality; and a dream world in which desire is revealed, even for the briefest of moments. Now, after repeated conversations that have come before, they begin to question whether the compromises that they made in order to be together are still worth it.
Tara Louise Notcutt studied theatre and performance at the University of Cape Town, graduating in 2008 and garnering the Class Medalist award. Since then she has already received recognition by winning the prestigious Fleur du Cap for New Director in 2009 as well as a Standard Bank Silver Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown recently, both for her direction of …miskien. While studying she worked professionally as a company and stage manager for various directors which include Mike van Graan, Saartjie Botha, Lara Bye and Rob van Vuuren. She has also worked as a director’s assistant on Ararat, directed by David Geysen, performed at the KKNK in 2009 and she was assistant director for Die Storie van die Vertaalde Mense. Last year she established her own theatre company with three other actors called the Pink Couch aimed at attracting a new and younger audience.
between you & me will run at Theatre Arts Admin Collective in Observatory from 17 to 21 August, at 8pm nightly, with an additional performance at 6pm on the Saturday. Ticket prices are just R40 throughout. For bookings contact 021 447 3683 or artsadmin@mweb.co.za.
Start: 17 Aug ’10
End: 21 Aug ’10
Cost: R40
Category: Emerging Theatre Directors Bursary, Performance
Organizer: Theatre Arts Admin Collective
Phone: +27 21 447 3683
Email: artsadmin@mweb.co.za
Venue: Theatre Arts Admin Collective
Phone: +27 21 447 3683
Address: Cnr Wesley and Milton Streets, Observatory, South Africa