(un)arranged marriage

...we are all monkeys in the end...

Plot

(Un)arranged Marriage is the story of a Punjabi boy called Manny who doesn`t want to go through with the marriage that his father has arranged for him. Set in present day England and partly in the Punjab, it follows Manny from the age of 13 as he tries to balance the demands of his family with his own desires for his future. Manny has found that the values of the Leicester Punjabi community from which he comes have little relevance to him. He has nothing in common with his brothers or parents. Manny`s older brothers appear to him to glory in their ignorance while his father is a hypocritical, violent drunk.
His mother is a remote figure who appears only to ask what he wants to eat or to cry hysterically at his disobedience.

Knowing that he is expected to follow the same path as his brothers into an arranged marriage at the age of seventeen and a blue collar job, Manny makes the decision to try to make himself the most unsuitable suitor possible, the bridegroom that no-one will choose for their daughter. Finally though, the family goes on vacation to India and leaves him there against his will for

straightening out.
This irrevocably sets Manny`s mind on the course he had always suspected that he would have to take. With the help of his Uncle Jag (who also escaped the family tradition) he escapes from India and goes back to England.
With the help of Ady (his best mate) and the support of Lisa (his girlfriend) he prepares the cheat and runs away on his wedding day to live the life he always wanted away from Punjabi culture and his family.

Das Projekt

Bereits zum fünften Mal entsteht in einer Kooperation mit dem English Department der Pädagogischen Hochschule Freiburg/Prof. Dr. Mechthild Hesse ein englischsprachiges Theaterstück.
Basis dieser Produktionen ist jeweils ein aktueller Text aus der englischsprachigen Jugendliteratur, der von Studierenden der Hochschule unter meiner Regie umgesetzt wird.
Die Aufführungen richten sich vorrangig an ältere Schüler und Studenten. Sie bieten in ihrer aussergewöhnlichen Präsentation des Stoffes eine sinnliche Auseinandersetzung mit der jeweiligen Thematik.
Zusätzlich bieten wir eine theaterpädagogische Nachbereitung an und stellen Unterrichtsmaterialien zur Verfügung.