St Mary’s Lecturer Contributes to South African Democracy Celebrations

A lecturer from St Mary’s University, Twickenham recently contributed to the 20th anniversary celebrations marking the democracy of South Africa this week. Matthew Hahn, Senior Lecturer on the undergraduate Drama programme at St Mary’s, will stage a reading of his play, The Robben Island Bible, which focuses on South African political prisoners from the apartheid era. The play was read to high school students attending South Africa House in central London for a day of workshops on education and sport on Wednesday 11th June. On the following Friday 13th June, Matthew will facilitate theatre for development workshops alongside final year St Mary’s Applied Theatre students with South African arts practitioners at South Africa House. The workshop’s aim is to demonstrate the value of cross-cultural inter-action and knowledge exchange. The four-day celebration, which started on Wednesday 11th to Saturday 14th June, also includes a family day and visits from South Africa’s top musicians. Of his role in the celebrations, Matthew said, “I am pleased that our students, who went to South Africa in April, have the opportunity to share their knowledge with their art practitioner peers and that I have the wonderful opportunity to work with high school students who have an interest in using arts in education.”