A powerful and provocative new production exploring the deep-rooted cultural practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) will be performed at Manchester’s Contact Theatre next summer.
Rites, created by Olivier award-winning director, Cora Bissett and acclaimed Mancunian theatre-maker Yusra Warsama, will be a co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland.
The play is based on current, true stories from girls affected in Scotland and the rest of the UK, mothers who feel under pressure to continue the practice, and the experiences of midwives, lawyers, police officers, teachers and health workers trying to effect change in communities.
The show weaves different perspectives into a powerful drama which explores the pressures and misconceptions existing within this deeply complex practice.
FGM, often referred to as “female circumcision” or “cutting” within cultures that practise it, is an ancient ritual that has been performed for centuries, and is one to which millions of girls worldwide are still subjected. The reasons are complicated and myriad.
It depends who you are, and it depends what you’ve been taught. FGM is illegal in the UK, however a recent campaign in 2013 by a young British-Somali student (Fahma Mohammed) has increased awareness of the practice and turned a global issue into a UK political policy priority and headline news.
Director, Cora Bissett, co-creator and director said:
‘Theatre is an extremely powerful medium to explore complex stories, put cultural practice under the spotlight and to find sensitive ways of portraying traumatic human experiences. Through extensive research and interviews across the UK, with women affected in diverse communities, we are hoping Rites will be a piece of theatre which doesn’t seek to demonise any one culture. We hope to ask questions of practices contained within many cultures and give space to discuss those very sensitive areas where cultural practice and human rights come into direct conflict.’
