Author Archives: Project Unruly Natures

We are in the middle of planning the second round of performances of Unruly, where we aim to bring the play and post-show discussion to new audiences. Tentative dates for this tour is 28 October to 9 November – watch this space for more information about how to sign up. Some of the new showsContinue reading “Planning for Unruly tour #2. Can you help us find suitable high schools?”

Over the past few weeks, research findings from the Unruly Natures project has reached a broader scientific community. First and foremost, we congratulate Kinga on publishing her first peer-reviewed article as a first author! Titled Control or coexist with urban baboons: Exploring residents’ views and values in Cape Town, the article is openly accessible inContinue reading “Unruly Natures research gaining international attention”

Almost a month ago on 9 June, the play ‘Unruly’ wrapped up its first tour at Theatre Arts in Observatory. This was an extra show that we added in response to high demand during the previous week – and just as most of the other performances, this final one was fully booked. Over 400 residentsContinue reading “Post-show reflections & looking ahead”

The last few weeks have been probably the most intense of this project, with our Empatheatre partners and Andrew Buckland doing a tremendous job bringing a story to life – from our extensive research of various kinds, through the careful crafting of a script, to the final staging by an incredibly skilled actor. The showContinue reading “Preparing for a tour!”

We’re excited to extend a public invite to Unruly, a theatre play produced by Empatheatre as part of the Unruly Natures project. The show delves into the experiences of residents living alongside urban baboons on the Cape Peninsula, starring internationally renowned performer Andrew Buckland. During 1-7 June we will tour Ocean View, Kommetjie, Constantia, Simon’s Town,Continue reading “Experience “Unruly”: A Theatrical Exploration of Human-Baboon Relations”

Yesterday the Unruly Natures team received some good news: our Swedish funder Formas approved our application to their Communications call. This means that we will receive some additional funds to “communicate and popularise research results regarding sustainable development for knowledge to be used and create benefit in society.” In our case, this means that weContinue reading “Communications grant – and PhD for Kinga!”

As announced in a previous post, we are currently working with Empatheatre to hold a series of community meetings including a theatre performance and a facilitated dialogue. We are excited to announce that we will work with award-winning South African actor and playwright Andrew Buckland. He will star in what will be a small production thatContinue reading “Empatheatre updates”

Today is a big day for the Unruly Natures project: We are finally ready to share some of the findings from the survey that was conducted last year! Academic research moves slowly, and we are still analysing the bulk of the data and expect to submit multiple articles to peer-reviewed journals. However, some of theContinue reading “A first look at some findings”

2023 ended with some dramatic scenes playing out in parts of our study area, as wildfires threatened both people’s and baboons’ homes around Simon’s Town. We hope everyone has stayed safe, and had an otherwise calm and restful summer holiday. The focus for 2024 will be a bit different for Unruly Natures than for 2023.Continue reading “New year, new phase of the project”

On the last day of November and before Kinga had to go back to Sweden, we met once more with our Advisory Board for some updates and to plan activities in 2024. The maybe most exciting thing was a first look at some preliminary results from our survey, and discussions about how to best shareContinue reading “Third Advisory Board meeting”