Spotlight on women’s issues
WOMAN Tongue, a play highlighting issues affecting the fairer sex, opens at Courtleigh Auditorium in New Kingston next Thursday.
Playwright Tanya Batson-Savage said her debut production will break new ground.
“It speaks to women’s issues that never makes it to the theatre and comprises seven short pieces,” she told the
Jamaica Observer.
Directed by Eugene Williams, the montage examines love, sexuality, family dynamics, changing mores and values, life, and death seen through the eyes of women.
“It’s largely about women, but not only for women. It’s for people looking for something different and want a good time at the theatre,” she said.
Batson-Savage, 40, said Woman Tongue is the culmination of a personal journey which began in the 1990s.
“Some of the pieces are reasonably quite old. I wrote one while attending UWI (University of the West Indies) in 96 or 97. Another had been written for a short story which I adapted… and there are four new pieces which I finished this year,” she said.
Woman Tongue has an all-star cast of Barbara McCalla, Karen Harriott, Bertina MaCauley, Carol Lawes, and Hilary Nicholson.
“I’m elated that my first production has this calibre of cast. I’m thrilled to put my time and energy into something with the talents of these actors and director whose opinion I trust and value,” she said.
A former reporter with The Gleaner Company, Batson-Savage has been associated with the arts for a number of years. She is the author of the children’s book Pumpkin Belly and Other Stories.
Woman Tongue is a Scarlette Beharie Production. It is slated for a six-show run.
