De plantage van onze voorouders
In the commemorative year 2023, 150 years after the 'end' of slavery, Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld and Malou Gorter put themselves in the shoes of Maartje Duin and Peggy Bouva -and their family members- to get a grip on their shared colonial history and everything that came out of it.
Run time tba
Genre music theatre
Language Dutch
In Gesprek Fri November 24 & Sat November 25
De plantage van onze voorouders
He who does not know his roots cannot grow.
Peggy has been searching for them for a long time; the names and stories of her ancestors. Centuries of colonialism and slavery have erased them. Whether she will ever find the names is uncertain. Maartje owns an extensive family tree with names, bynames and portraits. Her ancestors had a stake in a plantation, but until now this was not a topic of conversation in her family.
Their meeting is the beginning of a quest in which they mirror, confront and question each other. Together they go back to a shared past, to the plantation Tout Lui Faut in Suriname, the place that connects their ancestors. Increasingly, it becomes clear how the historical inequality between the women carries over into the present.
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The actresses Manoushka and Malou interpret all the characters and perspectives, but in the end they too cannot help but reveal themselves and speak out to each other.
The live music, which is both exuberant and introverted, makes the past palpable, gives a voice to stories for which there are no words yet, and echoes when the conversation falls silent.
Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld about De plantage van onze voorouders
'Although awareness about Dutch colonial history has been growing in recent years, the conversation about what it triggers personally has only just begun. With this performance, we want to share and question perspectives in order to connect and ultimately heal.'
In Gesprek
After the performance, come and think, listen and chat at In Gesprek. We invite a guest to further explore the themes of De plantage van onze voorouders and to exchange experiences. If you have any questions, this is the perfect time to ask them. In Gesprek is free of charge and starts shortly after the performance in one of our foyers, is conducted in Dutch and lasts about half an hour.
Credits
concept Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld
directing Geert Lageveen
text Bodil de la Parra
with Malou Gorter and Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld
music Shauntell Baumgard and Yariv Vroom
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scenography Mathieu Wijdeven
costumes Annique Nahumury (Terror Kittens)
lighting design Stefan Dijkman
based on the Prospektor/VPRO podcast De Plantage van onze voorouders