South Africa, sadly, is the rape capital of the world. We have even coined our own name for one type of rape – the rape of a person because of his or her perceived sexual orientation. We call this ‘corrective rape’. South Africa, with our wonderful constitution, officially protects lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals. However, corrective rape continues unabated because it is not yet recognised (as far as I am aware) as a hate crime.
Athena Mazarakis takes a look at this issue in her wonderful multi-media work, ‘Standing By’ which I saw at Wits Theatre on 15 February 2013 as part of the Silver Jubilee of the Dance Umbrella.
Athena Mazarakis in Standing By. Photo credit John Hogg
The programme notes say: We live in a country with the highest rape rate in the world. A country where the average South African woman has a higher chance of being raped than of finishing secondary school. A country where a woman is raped every 26 seconds. Within the broader scourge of violence against women in South Africa, the phenomenon of the ‘corrective rape’ of lesbians has been steadily on the rise, with an estimated ten new cases emerging each week. Rather than focus on the broad continuum of patriarchal attitudes and behaviour that allow these atrocities to occur, this work seeks to question where each of us stands in relation to this violence. It asks if we are simply standing by while a war is being waged on women’s bodies, or if we are on stand-by, and ready to re-ACT.
The work is clever, moving through the use of tiny plastic soldiers, a camera, projections, audience participation and shocking statistics and stories of real people. At no time is one comfortable, but the work never feels tedious in the slightest. This is more than just performance human rights activism, it is also entertaining, no, make that intriguing, theatre.
Athena Mazarakis in Standing By. Photo credit John Hogg
Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General says: Violence against women and girls continues unabated in every continent, country and culture. It takes a devastating toll on women’s lives, on their families, and on society as a whole. Most societies prohibit such violence – yet the reality is that too often it is covered up or tacitly condoned.
Athena Mazarakis has made her stand, somewhat viscerally. She has invited the audience to make theirs and many of them responded positively.
My applause for this marvellous, and timeous in view of the ‘Billion Rising Campaign’ and the recent Oscar Pistorius debacle, work by Athena Mazarakis. Well done!
Standing By was choreographed and performed by Athena Mazarakis, with video by Jessica Denyschen. The work was originally commissioned by Rhodes University and developed with the support of the Goethe Institut.
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