Supported by NATi and the Government of Flanders
With: Lee-Ann van Rooi
Writers: Julie van den Berghe, Marie-Louise Stheins, Kristien Hemmerechts; translation by Paul Vincent, to the novel of Kristien Hemmerechts
Director: Julie van den Berghe
Language: English
Venue: NATi Arena
Date and time: 30 April 10:00 | 1 May 19:00
Duration: 60 min
Price: R125
In The woman who fed the dogs, Lee-Ann van Rooi takes on a one-woman play based on the true story of the life of Michelle Martin.
Martin was jailed for assisting her then husband, Marc Dutroux, a paedophile who abducted and raped young girls. Most of the young girls did not survive. Two of them were found to have starved to death because Martin ignored their cries for help. She did not feed them or free them. Instead, she fed the dogs.
Martin served a prison sentence and spent many more years under correctional supervision.
Izak de Vries asked Van Rooi about her preparation for this play.
Lee-Ann, have you ever played a viler character?
All characters are disturbed and have gone through trauma of some kind; only the depth varies. Nobody is born bad. What happened to her? That is why this is important.
Did you read Kristien Hemmerechts’s book on Martin, or what did you do to prepare yourself?
I decided not to read the book yet, to see what the theatre text would give me. Were the suggestions and possible answers to my questions there? So far, it is good!
Most perpetrators of violence used to be victims themselves. Martin must have been a sad person to allow Dutroux to hold so much power over her. Did you manage to find some light in Martin’s character?
She fell in love with the wrong person. We all know how that usually ends. And we have all been there!
Lee-Ann van Rooi (Photo: Gys Loubser)
Do you have rituals entering the character and, perhaps more importantly, to leave Martin in the theatre when you go home?
Water. Full immersion. But only when done. I try to manage the weight of the character consciously within me. I try to sleep more. I can’t really do anything else besides everyday stuff. It is a bit all-consuming.
Michelle Martin served jail time, and then she was under supervision. Today, she is a free person who is allowed to travel. Have you ever played a character whose real-life role model may have been watching from the audience?
No. But there is a little of her in all of us. This theatre piece is loosely based on the actual story; the writer has reimagined and filled in details to create the story.
Why should audiences see The woman who fed the dogs?
Let me rather leave you with a quote from the play: “Will there ever be an end to the horror, the people on television wonder. ... No, it never stops. Not for me, not with me, not after me.”
#GBV is real.
Kommentaar
Ons as Suid-Afrikaners ken trauma, is telkens bewus daarvan op talle maniere.
Vroue en kinders word verkrag; skietery in sekere woongebiede is alledags; ons gaan gebuk onder rassistiese ettikette, soos 'gemengde ras'; en ongelukke soos nou in Swellendam wat talle in trauma en in pyn laat.
Ons tronke is vol.
Dit is uiters belangrik om oor trauma te praat en die omstandighede wat steeds daartoe bydra.
Daar is baie wat goeie werk doen en moet gesteun word.
Lee-Ann se antwoorde is puik.