Friday, July 16, 2010

Photo of After Violence

After Violence

at Greenbelt 2010: The art of looking sideways

'After Violence' is a new verbatim play by Tom Underwood that interweaves the personal testimonies of victims and perpetrators of violence. The play explores the possibility of forgiveness as a response to violence and the interplay between reconciliation and justice.

At Greenbelt the second act of the play will be performed as a rehearsed reading. The second act interweaves two stories. In 1984 IRA member Pat Magee planted a bomb at the Conservative Party conference and sixteen years later met the daughter of one of his victims. In 1993 Easy Nofemela and Ntobeko Peni were convicted of the murder of Amy Biehl, an American working in South Africa against apartheid, five years later they met Amy's parents.

"It wasn't actually until I was standing at the door, knocking at the door that it kind of hit home. With the best intentions in the world, if you were sitting meeting someone who had killed your Father, how would you respond?"