04a / The Mechanicals Collective presents

TITLE: “GROUNDED”
AUTHOR/PLAYWRITE: George Brant
PRESENTED BY: THE MECHANICALS
VENUE: Arena Theatre 37 Orange Street, Gardens
DATES: 03 – 13 December

The MECHANICALS present the South African premiere of George Brant’s award winning solo play “Grounded”. Currently on numerous world stages this topical and exceptional work picked up a Fringe First award at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe having won the National New Play Network’s 2012 Smith Prize.

“Grounded” follows one woman’s shift from hot-shot fighter pilot to a member of what she dismisses as the “Chair Force”: flying unmanned aerial vehicles in a windowless trailer in the Nevada desert, driving home to her husband and young daughter, trying to absorb the pixelated images from the belly of the Reaper drone she pilots from across the world. In examining the circumstances of a single pilot, Brant also considers the transformation of the contemporary military: from the danger (and ego boost) of the F -16 cockpit to the experience of warfare as shift work, both more estranged from the battlefield and more intimately connected to the people that pilots and their teams can spend weeks tracking.

Starring Mikkie-Dene Le Roux, the production is directed by Christopher Weare. Lighting design is by Kieran McGregor.
“Grounded” s presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.

The season at the Arena Theatre, 37 Orange Street, Gardens, runs from 03 – 13 December. Bookings www.webtickets.co.za