TWO scriptwriting students from Bournemouth University will take a play they have written to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to raise awareness of the issues facing women in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Benedict Lombe, who has just finished the BA (Hons) Scriptwriting for Film and TV course, and final year student Charlotte Rogers have written, directed and will perform in the play Chaos by Design.

The production, which will run from August 2-17, focuses on the struggles of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – where it is estimated 433,000 women are raped a year.

“The main reason that we wanted to do this whole thing was effectively to raise awareness about something that I think a lot of the time people, especially our generation, have no idea about,” said Benedict, 21.

“I found out about it after talking to a woman who was raped in the Congo. I remember sitting there and listening to her story and being completely horrified. It’s such a huge issue and we thought that creating a play was one way that we could make a difference.”

The play follows two women, June and Angelique, as they struggle to survive in the DRC without becoming victims of war, coming across different characters with their own views on the conflict.

Benedict and Charlotte set up their own theatre company, The Rat’s Nest Theatre Company, to create the production, and received a £1,500 grant from the BU Projects and Placements Grant fund to help them get started.

Benedict said: “The grant really helped us with setting up our fringe venue, as we wouldn’t have been able to cover that initial cost ourselves.”

She added that the skills and techniques they had both learnt on the course had helped in writing the piece.

“Doing this has just made me rediscover I have always loved theatre and the stage and expressing myself in that way,” said Benedict.

“One thing that I was really surprised about and loved was the human rights aspect.

“We should all be global citizens. This is something that we are still involved in and affects us and something that we are personally responsible for.”