I believe that staying at the Paulet House will provide me with great inspiration. I am a great history enthusiast and thus anything old that is steeped in rich history interests me and I believe will make the creative juices flow.
I am also very interested in having conversations with the other writers. I find it very interesting, as a writer, to talk to people who come from other backgrounds than myself. I think this broadens one’s horizons and it enriches my characters past my frame of reference. Gaining insight into how others perceive the world also makes it easier for us to identify how we view the world. I believe a good writer has insight into her own position in the world and where she stands compared to others. This is only possible through conversations with others.
I study drama at the University of Stellenbosch, so the advertisement for NATi Jong Sterre was spread throughout the department. I initially did not consider entering this specific play, because I saw it as an experiment and I did not yet know if it would work in the way I was hoping. Another point of doubt for me was being aware that this play was not a comfortable, easy-watch play for audience members.
The play I will be working on during my time in Somerset East is called “Die Fix”. This play is something different from what I normally write, which is realism. I decided to try my hand at a circular structure.
What I hope to achieve with this play is to show audience members how easy it is to become trapped in a cycle of abusive toxic behaviour, which is represented through two characters, who are lovers, trying to escape the cycle of drug abuse.
I want to make audience members feel trapped in the toxic cycle with the two characters. When audience members believe that they can finally escape the abuse and toxic environment, they are pulled back into the cycle with the characters when the circular structure of the play is revealed.
However, when audience members eventually leave the auditorium, they will feel a sense of relief because they could escape, while they left the two characters behind with no hope of leaving the toxic space represented by the performance space.
Moniq Gouws het in 2019 ’n BA in Taal en Kultuur aan Universiteit Stellenbosch verwerf, en is tans ’n honneursstudent in Drama en Teaterstudies, met kreatiewe skryf as spesialiteit. Sy is ook die houer van ’n Musikale Teater-sertifikaat en het in 2022 deelgeneem aan Humboldt-Universiteit in Berlyn se somerskoolprogram. As jong dramaturg en regisseur het haar tekste toekennings vir beste komedie en beste musiekblyspel by Stellenbosch Universiteit se Toneelfees verower.
