FIGRAISING Fundraiser for UCT Drama's Fourth-year Theatre-making Studio Production, FIGS

The fourth-year theatre-making studio of the University of Cape Town's Drama Department will stage FIGRAISING, a fundraising evening dedicated to helping them take their production, FIGS, to the Grahamstown National Arts Festival in July. A key feature of the event is a raffle for a two-night stay at the four-star guest house Sea Paradise, in Wilderness, worth R3500.

Beginning with drinks in the Arena Theatre foyer at UCT's Hiddingh Campus, FIGRAISING is sure to be an evening of theatrical treats. Performances by both past and current UCT students will take place in the Bindery Theatre. The acts include poetry, theatre and instructional comedy.

Following a 15-minute interval, the winner of the raffle will be announced and a Q&A session with the company of FIGS will commence in the Bindery Theatre. This session is an opportunity for guests to discuss the work towards which the funds raised will be contributed and to ask questions about the process of making FIGS, discussing the obstacles faced and possible goals for the future of the production.

The creation of an original piece of work as a class is one of the four core tasks of the fourth-year theatre-making studio. The piece should be designed with the ability to tour, with theatre festivals being opportunities to share work, network, learn and engage. In the past, the Post Office subsidised the Student Festival at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, allowing UCT the opportunity to take these travel-conscious pieces to the festival. This year, the Post Office has chosen not to subsidise the Student Festival and as a result, UCT had to consider the viability of going to Grahamstown. The fourth year class was given the option of staying in Cape Town or raising their own funds to get to Grahamstown. Having studied with an anticipation of taking work to the festival, the class decided that taking work to a national platform with an opportunity to meet and network with other artists in the business far outweighed the challenges arising from raising the funds.

The production itself, FIGS, tells the story of a unit of militant women in a time when it becomes necessary to attack a system that feeds off the struggles of those who exist within it, that allows violence to go unpunished, that polices women "for their safety" and that perpetuates the cycle of oppression. Once a book club, six friends turn militant after the tragic death of the club's founder, Dee. Pushed to the edge by this final act in what is only the most recent slew of violent crimes against women - on the path at Rhodes Memorial, behind a dumpster at Stanford, in a bathroom stall in Khayelitsha, on a foot trail in Tokai Forest - this unit decides that it's time to push back. But each woman has a different experience of oppression, and each woman has a different response. Can these women work together to push back against the system? What does this push back look like? Do these women have the answer?

Tickets for FIGRAISING, which takes place on 15 June, are R300 each and include a complimentary glass of wine, a single entry into the raffle as well as the evening of performances. Guests are welcome to buy more raffle tickets at R30 each during the interval. Bookings can be made by emailing Dara, with payments only accepted in cash upon collection. A Thundafund for the production is also running.

FIGS runs at the National Arts Festival on 7 - 8 July in the Rehearsal Room. Tickets cost R35 - R45 and can be booked through the National Arts Festival website.

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