Actor Jack Klaff Performs at St Mary’s

Renowned South African born actor, writer and academic Jack Klaff is making a guest appearance at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham on Friday 11^th October. Famous for his performances in James Bond’s For Your Eyes Only and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Jack Klaff will be performing excerpts from his plays, Nagging Doubts [1980] and Out to Lunch [2013] along with a question & answer session during the ‘Theatre & Politics’ lecture as a part of the ‘Theatre & Society’ module for third year Drama students. Nagging Doubts is a performance about the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in Apartheid South Africa. In this performance, Jack draws on his childhood memories regarding a key event in South Africa's history; 21st March 1960. Outside Sharpeville police station, 35 miles from Johannesburg, panicked police officers fired at peaceful black demonstrators killing 70 people. Nagging Doubt has been staged in London's West End, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and across Europe. Out to Lunch is a sharply-observed work, exploring the issues around hunger, consumption and charity. Based on Klaff’s real-life childhood friend, the play demonstrates how this friend helps him create a show about hunger. Other issues within the play include “the charade of nastiness that comes out of charity” and what we as humans choose to ignore. Out to Lunch was also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. Both pieces showcase the ongoing need for theatre within a society not just to hold up to society, but as a tool in which to shape it. The event is taking place at 11am in room G7 and is free and open to the public. For more information contact Matthew Hahn at matthew.hahn@stmarys.ac.uk.