12 moving, touching and sometimes humorous monologues about friendship, first love, defiance, death & survival.
Twelve moving, touching and sometimes humorous monologues tell stories of friendship, first love, defiance, death and survival.
Inspired by the true stories of young women killed by their families in the UK, twelve writers have created a unique theatre event to give a voice to these lost lives.
Twelve is a creative response to a shocking statistic: According to the Metropolitan Police in the UK, on average twelve women are killed each year in so-called ‘honour-based violence’.
Kali’s Artistic Director, Janet Steel brought together twelve writers and a choreographer to research twelve real life stories of women like Samaira Nazir, murdered for falling in love with an unsuitable boyfriend and Shafilea Ahmed, killed by her father after rejecting an arranged marriage proposal. Drawing on the statements of survivors, witnesses and support workers, each writer then wrote a piece inspired by the life and death of one of these women.
The stories are interwoven with modern dance, expressing the freedom of the women’s spirit and the conflict between cultural tradition and modernity.
The classical Kathak and modern Laban dance will be choreographed by internationally known dancer and campaigner Sheema Kermani.
Conceived and directed by Janet Steel.
Written by Sonali Bhattacharyya, Sharmila Chauhan, Satinder Chohan, Azma Dar, Tanika Gupta, Bettina Gracias, Sayan Kent, Yasmeen Khan, Anu Kumar, Amber Lone, Nessah Muthy, Yasmin Whittaker-Khan.
There will be a post-show discussion after the performance on Thursday (approx 30 mins) facilitated by Dr. Ranjit Khutan, Principal Lecturer and Head of Public Health Faculty of Education, Health & Wellbeing at the University of Wolverhampton.
Presented by Kali Theatre in association with Sampad and mac birmingham