Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
12 April 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin
The Wolves
The Wolves is a play which does not conform to mainstream female stereotypes.
It is the perfect father and daughter team - Gerben Kamper, well-known actor and former drama lecturer at the University of the Free State (UFS), and his daughter Marijda Kamper, a current Drama and Theatre Arts staff member at UFS who have taken on the task of directing and producing the play, The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe.

It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2017. “The text is regarded very highly, most drama texts do not normally get such recognition,” said Marijda.  

The play will be performed at the Scaena on the Bloemfontein Campus from Wednesday 10 April 2019.

“This play provides an excellent acting opportunity for our students. It is also nice to get a play which accommodates so many female actors,” said Marijda. Because this play digs deep within the daily struggles of being a girl, it is a sort of homage to the current #MeToo movement. It is a play about the coming-of-age for nine girls and centres in a non-stereotypical manner on the experiences, attitudes, anxiety and the adolescent hormonal changes of girls in the contemporary world. 

“It is very exciting to be back at the department. Especially with this play. It is very different from the usual plays we get. As it is set on an indoor soccer field, it is quite a different ballgame. This play provides the opportunity to focus on all the facets of acting,” said Gerben. 

The play has six scenes and takes place just before the start of a soccer match. “So the girls are busy with warm-up exercises just minutes before the whistle,” said Marijda. “The soccer unit at KovsieSport helped us a lot. They arranged a real soccer coach to assist us, and for two weeks she trained our girls like real soccer players.”



News Archive

Manuel Castillo Book Prize goes to Prof Melanie Walker
2014-05-15



Prof Melanie Walker

Prof Melanie Walker from our Centre for Research on Higher Education and Development (CRHED) and Alejandra Boni from the Technical University of Valencia in Spain makes for a potent writing combination. Their book, Human Development and Capabilities: Re-imagining the University of the twenty-first Century, has won the 2014 Spanish Manuel Castillo Book Prize. This in the category of a Published University Research Monograph.

The aim of this prize is to stimulate academic, scientific and journalist research in the fields of cooperation, peace and human development. And this is precisely what underpins their book.

The content encourages the reader to re-imagine the role of the university and its potential for transformative ends. It urges the creation of better societies while acknowledging contemporary social and economic challenges. It shows how universities might advance human equalities and how these institutions can contribute to sustainable and democratic societies.

In her acceptance speech, Professor Walker noted that “the book is pioneering in its linking universities to human development in an age where globally human capital and economic growth approaches dominate higher education policy.” She noted that the human capital argument is by no means settled – an increased focus on economic growth only contributes to growing inequalities. “We hope the book will challenge and add to debating the purposes of universities,” Prof Walker said.

Not only was this trans-continental collaboration an intellectual and personal joy for Prof Walker, but it has served as a springboard to further research and more writing together with Alejandra Boni.


We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept