Theatre as Witness

Yaël Farber

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781786823274
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Teatro africano

With a Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu Yael Farber's trilogy of plays bears powerful testimony to the personal truths of those who lived through the brutal Apartheid regime in South Africa. Woman in Waiting tells of Thembi Mtshali's separation from her mother as a child, only to continue this legacy of waiting when forced to leave her own baby to mind other people's children in the white suburbs. Amajuba is a moving tapestry of different personal perspectives on growing up under Apartheid. He Left Quietly is the harrowing experience of Duma Kumalo, one of the wrongly accused Sharpeville Six, on South Africa's Death Row; preparations made for his death and ultimate reprieve.

AMAJUBA
LIKE DOVES WE RISE

Conceived & written by Yael Farber

A HISTORY OF TEXT AND PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT

In 2000, Yael Farber arrived in Mafikeng – a tiny town in the dustbowl of South Africa’s former Homeland of Bophuthatswana, where she had been commissioned by the North West Arts Council (an organisation which later merged with and became known as Mmabana Arts Foundation) to create a new theatre work. Farber planned to embark on a process of creating a piece culled from the lives of her cast, lived in the shadow of Apartheid’s dying years. She was assigned the Arts Council’s five resident actors, but knew nothing of the actors’ biographical details prior to the first day of the creative process. Testament to the all-pervasive nature of Apartheid, Farber needed to conduct no further selective casting process based on the content of the actor’s life experiences. Being black South Africans, these five artists inevitably had stories of exceptional endurance to tell. Agreeing to share personal details towards creating a biographical tapestry of life lived under Apartheid’s full force, the actors embarked on an intensive process of remembrance, with Farber. Weeks in an ‘aircon-less’ studio at the Arts Council during that sweltering summer, saw director and actors immerse themselves in the demanding creative process. Days of intensive memory recall by the actors were captured by Farber in writing. Evenings of staging and rehearsing would follow, after which Farber would go home and script through the night, while the actors memorised moves and lines for the following day’s work. A defining moment for Amajuba came when one of the cast members, overcome with emotion whilst recalling a memory – was given sudden reprieve from his narrative by the other cast members, who began to spontaneously sing. This is common practice at Township funerals, with song being perhaps the spiritual balm by which millions have survived unspeakable events in South Africa’s past. Farber immediately determined that the narratives would be strung together on the powerful yet fragile thread of such community spirituals and songs.

After a six week period of research, creation, writing and staging – Amajuba was set to premiere in Mafikeng. Hours after the show was to commence, the audience slowly accumulated – perhaps due to both the calm lack of emphasis placed on time in Mmabatho, as well as the fact that a large black snake had been sighted entering the theatre. After an intensive search which yielded nothing, the company decided to ‘curtain up’ – and Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise was born. For two years, the production played at modest festivals around South Africa, and at The State Theatre in Pretoria, South Africa. It was at the 2002 National Festival of the Arts in South Africa that Tish Francis, director of ...