Emergency Workshop: An Interactive Performance About Survival, Society & Shared Humanity
October 9–12, 2025 | Theatre Arts, Observatory, Cape Town
About Emergency Workshop
In a world increasingly defined by uncertainty—wars, inequality, ecological catastrophe, and social collapse—how do we prepare ourselves for the unthinkable? From October 9th to 12th, Emergency Workshop, a genre-blurring performance project by Marie Hahne and Gordon Evans, will take place in Observatory, Cape Town, at Theatre Arts.
Rooted in W.E.B. Du Bois’s short story The Comet, this collaborative work merges lecture, performance art, and interactive emergency drills, asking: How can we prepare for the moment catastrophe strikes? Can we at all?
In The Comet, Du Bois imagines New York City emptied by a cosmic catastrophe. Two survivors—Jim and Julia—must navigate this silent aftermath together, transcending the boundaries of race, class, and social expectation. But will the dust settling reveal an old world now gone?
Taking this powerful narrative as a starting point, Emergency Workshop invites audiences into an immersive scenario where drills for emergencies—earthquakes, crocodile attacks, dinner with the in-laws, or heartbreak—interrupt and reshape the storytelling. No performance will be the same: Each evening is shaped by chance, audience interaction, and the unfolding chaos of the moment.
About the Artists
Marie Hahne (b. 1993, Berlin) studied Theatre at Weißensee University of the Arts Berlin and Contemporary Art at Hiroshima City University in Japan.
Marie Hahne defines her artistic practice as hybrid translation—a dynamic process of shifting between mediums and perspectives. Her work explores themes of repetition and ritual, absurdity and logic, play and discovery, using storytelling, movement, voice, objects and visual elements to create immersive spaces for interaction and exploration. Her playgrounds and interactive performances invite audiences to step closer, listen, touch, explore and transform passive observation into active engagement.
Gordon Evans (b. 1987, Humansdorp) studied architecture at the Nelson MandelaMetropolitan University. Eager to travel and see more, he moved to China for three years, before taking a job in an office of architecture, in Osaka, Japan, for the next seven, which included initial explorations into stage and set design. The love for music came along from high school, as the original bassist for Afrikaans band Glaskas. He tries to include music in his life where possible but is most keenly interested in where stories come from, be it through static, built architectural form, or the fleeting moments and language of a song.
Caroline Calbrun initiated Theatre Arts (as it is now known) in 2009 after a long history in theatre in which she has been a performer, theatre director, educator and mentor in both universities and communities, working at a local, national and international level. Theatre Arts, its ethos and its programmes, is a culmination of this experience.
Frans Mandilakhe Zuguze began as a rigger of lights at Theatre Arts in 2015, and now runs all technical aspects of the venue. He has a growing love of lighting design and specialises in lighting designed in real time, a skill he acquired through his collaboration as an artist in MusicDance
Event Details
Emergency Workshop
Dates: October 9–12, 2025
Address: Theatre Arts, Methodist Church Hall, cnr Milton Road and Wesley Street, Observatory.
Duration: Approx. 2 hours
Admission: R150
For bookings or further information, please visit:
www.theatrearts.co.za
082 752 1376
Emergency Workshop forms part of the second half of the Theatre Arts 2025 Season.