[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Gut_Girls.jpg” caption=”Gut_Girls.jpg”]McMaster University's School of the Arts' will present Sarah Daniels' The Gut Girls as its fall theatre production for 2003.

The production will bring together a multidisciplinary team including a combination of professors, theatre professionals and about 30 students who will earn academic credit for their work on the show. The team is guided by professionals including: director Teresa Simm who is working closely with dramaturge Catherine Graham, lighting and set designer Patrick Brennan, sound designer Ranil Sonnadara and costume designer Martha Cockshutt.

The Gut Girls takes place in the poorest of working class districts in Victorian London and explores an upper class woman's attempt to save' those she perceives as less fortunate. However, the Gut Girls resist her help' and the result is a hilarious, yet profoundly touching, portrayal of a clash of social cultures.

Playwright Sarah Daniels is known for her unflinching yet humourous
examinations of the lives of marginalized groups of women. She has
seen her work produced at the Royal Court Theatre, Manchester Royal
Exchange Theatre, the National and the Albany Theatre in South London,
where the original gut girls worked in local slaughterhouses until a
member of the local aristocracy took notice of their condition.

McMaster faculty member and director Teresa Simm comments “Daniels
attunes us to the assumptions we make about others — both those who
are less, and more privileged than ourselves. She asks us to listen to how we relate and connect to one another. What lies behind our
laughter? Our anger? Our desire? As the characters in The Gut Girls struggle for their own version of freedom, we awaken to all those ways in which these characters — as well as we, ourselves — conspire against our own success in achieving it.”

McMaster faculty member and dramaturge for The Gut Girls, Catherine Graham, has noted that The Gut Girls has already aroused interest in various programs across McMaster, such as Social Work, Women's Studies, Labour Studies, Health Studies and English. Professors from these diverse departments will be collaborating to use the comedic style of The Gut Girls as a catalyst for cross-disciplinary discussions of the problems that arise in helping relationships.

When: Nov. 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 at 8 p.m.

Where: McMaster University in Robinson Memorial Theatre, Chester New Hall, Rm. 103.

Cost: $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Call the box office 905-525-9140 ext. 23333.

Photo caption: Performing a scene from The Gut Girls are Mario Mabrucco as Arthur and Shannon Bird as Priscilla.