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Latrobe Performing Arts presents stories of loss and war

For most of us war is a distant reality, something we watch through the eyes of news reporters or read about in history books.

By Portal Admin - 27th August 2016 - Back to News

For most of us war is a distant reality, something we watch through the eyes of news reporters or read about in history books. But for some in our community war is reality and memory and life. Ajak Kwai’s memoirs of life in Sudan will be portrayed in a moving performance called Of Cows, Women and War, at the VRI Hall in Queen’s Parade, Traralgon on Friday 26 August from 7.30pm.

Latrobe City Council’s coordinator performing arts and venues, Kathleen Roberts, said that the stories were from an unpublished book and are brought poignantly to life with music.

"These stories touch all the areas of Dinka people’s life before the war and during the war. There are stories of landscapes and courting rituals, of family tradition and pride, of forced marriage and why cows are a curse for girls. There are stories of loss, and the high price women and children pay in war. 

Presented in partnership with La Mama Mobile, the stories are performed by Ajak Kwai and music is written by Kofi Kunkpe and Matt Erickson, with direction by Bagryana Popov.

"This is something a little out of the ordinary for Latrobe Performing Arts but then war is a little out of the ordinary. By presenting the narrative in the very human form of story-telling we can begin to understand a culture and a life that is both removed from ours and the same as ours," Ms Roberts said.

Of Cows, Women and War will be performed at VRI Hall in Queen’s Parade, Traralgon on Friday 26 August from 7.30pm. Book tickets through the box office on 5176 3333 or online www.latrobe.vic.gov.au/lpawhatson

For general enquiries, contact Latrobe City Council on 1300 367 700.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: support@gippsland.com

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