Matt O’Connor takes part in a series of conversations inspired by THE FATHER
Jagged Fence Productions has today announced that it will present a series of free events inspired by Laurie Slade’s acclaimed new version of August Strindberg’s The Father. The adaptation, to be given its London premiere at Trafalgar Studios from 17 March, will mark the first time Strindberg’s play has been performed in a London theatre in 50 years.
Produced and chaired by theatre industry commentator Terri Paddock, the debates will take place throughout the run of The Father and will provide a forum for some of today’s most respected thinkers, prominent activists, arts practitioners and cultural leaders to engage with the play’s themes of equality, parenting and attitudes to gender roles.
In The Father, the only way that the mother is able to take control of her life, her family’s fortune and her daughter’s future is by driving her abusive husband to mental breakdown. Has family law now swung too far in the other direction? What about fathers’ rights? Is truly equal parenting ever possible?
On Monday 30 March ‘Parenting Rights: Does Mummy or Daddy Know Best?’ considers whether equal parenting is truly possible and how we can strive for equal rights for mothers and fathers. Joining the panel are: Matt O’Connor (Founder, Fathers 4 Justice); Sally Peck (Editor of the Telegraph’s new parenting hub, Mother Tongue) and The Father cast members Alex Ferns, Robert Wilfort and Thomas Coombes with other guests to be confirmed.
Matt O’Connor (Founder, Fathers 4 Justice) founded Fathers 4 Justice in 2001 after he was denied access to his two sons in Britain’s Family Courts. Despite resolving the matter out of court in late 2001 and re-establishing a normal relationship with his children, O’Connor pledged to reform family law. Fathers 4 Justice staged their first direct action demonstration in 2002 when 200 Father Christmases stormed the lobby of the then Lord Chancellor’s Department. Since then, O’Connor has masterminded the creation of one of the highest-profile campaign groups in the world, spawning a host of imitation (but unrelated) groups in different countries. In 2005, Matt was GQ Magazine’s 7th Top Communicator in the UK, GQ Magazine’s 92nd Most Powerful Man in Britain, Esquire Magazine’s 35th Most Powerful Man In Britain Under 50 and one of twenty people shortlisted for the Royal Society’s Great Briton of the Year Awards. In 2007 he published his first book Fathers 4 Justice: The Inside Story and sold the motion picture rights to his life story to Buena Vista pictures, part of the Walt Disney group.
https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/104165/series-of-conversations-inspired-by-the-father/
