At Her Feet
At Her Feet is a one-woman play written by Nadia Davids.
The original text
The one-woman autobiographical play explores the identity and status of Muslim women and tells of a young Muslim woman’s experience of life in her community, the claustrophobia she senses and the perceived freedom she sees on the other side of the fence in westernised South Africa. The playwright is herself a Muslim woman who grew up in Cape Town’s District Six and her play focuses on a key social group in the Western Cape.
Davids applied to the NAC for financial support to tour her award-winning (one-woman) production through South Africa. Her application was rejected. For a detailed analysis of this incident, in its historical context, see [Van Heerden (2008)][1] pp.49-51.
The play was voted one of the five best new works at the 2003 Grahamstown Festival and it was the only South African work invited to perform at the Afrovibes Festival in Amsterdam in September 2004. Davids received the Rosalie van der Gucht Prize for New Directors for At Her Feet and her actress Quanita Adams won the best actress award at the Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards for her performance.
The text was published by Oshun Books in 2006.
Performance history in South Africa
2003: First performed in the Baxter Theatre in June 2003, at the Grahamstown Festival, featuring Quanita Adams and directed by Nadia Davids.
2003: The production staged in the André Huguenet Theatre in Bloemfontein.
2009: A revived version staged at the Market Theatre, again featuring Quanita Adams and directed by Nadia Davids.
2018: Performed at the Baxter Theatre, 22 November to 8 December, once more directed by Nadia Davids with Quanita Adams.
Sources
Business Day, 24 June 2003.
The Citizen, 3 July 2003.
Ruphin Coudyzer. 2023. Annotated list of his photographs of Market Theatre productions. (Provided by Coudyzer)
Sunday Independent, 29 April 2009.
Die Burger, 3 November 2018.
https://books.google.co.za/books/about/At_Her_Feet.html?id=HK9lAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
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