Barrydale Reconciliation Day Parade

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More images of our work with our giant Tortoise, Secretary Bird, and Mr. Pinch, our slave auctioneer.

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As part of the process we went barefoot into the orchards of one of the oldest farms in Barrydale to spend some time contemplating and talking about what the lineages and stories of the workers of history and this land meant for each of us.  In some cases it was as close as second and third generation family and feelings of anger came up- ‘who gets to decide who is the worker and who is the person in charge?’.  This was in preparation for the actual scenes of the Khoi workers who were forced into labour, through economic desperation, starvation and loss of homelands.

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Skilpad and secretary Bird getting ready for Sunday's performance : with Donna, Pieter John and Angelo from Net Vir Pret with amazing designer Glynn who has travelled all the way from the US to work with everyone

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More photos from Jill’s workshop.

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Scenes from rehearsal.

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Pelamana (performed by Elzaan and Cussie) and Jantjie played by Dylan

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Cape Slave Naming Patterns - Ancestors Research South Africa

When Robert Semple visited Cape Town in 1804 he correctly noted the significance of the naming pattern for Cape Slave owners: It ay here be observed that the whole heathen mythology is ransacked find the names which are generally bestowed in a manner not the most honourable to those deities at whose alters one half …

Catharina van Bengal, Abraham van Batavia, Galant, Cupido, Februarie, Fortuin and  thousands of others who have been washed from history their legacy planted in the farm lands, buried under the streets of Cape Town. Many South Africans with slave heritage will unfortunately never be able to track their first fore-bearers. However many of us carry slave names, carrying with them the painful legacy of the slave auctions where slaves were re-baptized and forced into a new identity by their masters. Slave names which were often arbitrary, facetious or demeaning were often meant to humiliate, mock or displace people from their culture. By understanding these names we acknowledge our complex heritage, by empowering these names we honour our ancestry.

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Pelamana: 'Emancipate yourself from Mental Slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds" Pelamana sings the freedom song in the farmlands of Barrydale

“A step backwards: The acquisition of slaves

To complete the picture of our enslaved women at the Cape, it might be worth to take a step back and explain how and from where slaves were usually acquired. There were three ways in which slaves were brought into the colony.5 The first was through trips to Madagascar entirely organised and supported by the VOC, then to Zanzibar and—after 1786—to Mozambique. In theory, all these slaves belonged to the Company, but it was not uncommon that some employees traded in slaves privately, which meant that they conducted the business without any kind of authorisation from the VOC.

The second way to obtain slaves was through VOC ships from Batavia and Ceylon returning to the Netherlands and stopping over at the Cape for refreshment. In this case slave owners (either Company employees or in- habitants of the colony) had to ask for special permission to the Company, since the VOC desired to control the practice of selling slaves at the Cape by travellers from the East Indies who otherwise would have to free their slaves once they arrived in Europe. These individuals preferred to sell their slaves at the Cape—where prices for slaves were high—instead of liberating them in Europe. The Company tried to prevent this trade by granting them permission to take their slaves with them only after they had paid the outward and return journeys for their slaves.

The third means of obtaining slaves was to purchase some from foreign traders (mostly British, but also French and Portuguese) on their route to the Atlantic, coming from the African East Coast or Madagascar. The Target for such sales were the free burghers...” (Rural and Shell, 2008 Historical relevance?: Ten sketches of women illegally enslaved at the Cape)

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Rehearsal Week One: Famidhana: The Madagascan Turning of the Bones with Aja Marneweck and the Net Vir Pret staff, interns and young leaders: Donna, Pieter, Angelo, Hermanus, Cissie, Elton, David, Elzaan

As part of our first explorations into the heart of puppetry and our puppets as conscious containers for bringing the ancestors of slavery (many in the group are direct descendants of those who have suffered and experienced this directly) to life, we spent the week in the container of the Famidhana ritual- the turning of the bones, reviving the dead to celebrate them and to make living, personal and compassionate connection with them in the now.  Using paper puppetry (one of my most beloved puppetry specialisation areas as a performer and director) we entered in depth explorations of the second level of animist exploration- that is to create  life, and specifically anthropomorphic (read human) life, within the object.  First we entered into the sensorial journey of the material, understanding the link between the creation of the form, and the evolving emotions of movement and sound.  Then we followed the process of bringing the paper to life in three basic steps: the heartbeat(the unseen moment of alive, to receive life, to receive and approach the object with total belief and devotion to its life and vulnerability); breath (the origins of conscious awareness and entry way to being present in the world now); Awareness through the senses (active conscious engagement with being alive: be it through seeing, touching, listening, tasting, smell...

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Children’s puppet design workshops with Jill Joubert every morning

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Synopsis: Die Name Wat Ons Gee

Die Name wat ons gee is a site specific community puppetry performance event, created by community organisation Net Vir Pret, in creative collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Trust and the University of the Western Cape  in the rural town of Smitsville/Barrydale in the Klein Karoo, off the R62 in South Africa.  

This year the project seeks to re-member, honour and celebrate the lives of the ancestors of our communities and the Barrydale community of the Klein Karoo, who were forced brutally into slavery  and indentured labour in the farming districts of the Cape in the 1800’s.   Our story is seen through the eyes of the ancient- as- the- hills Skilpad (Tortoise) and the young, impetuous Secretary bird who has forgotten how to fly, as she struggles to find her passion for life and meaning in the world today.     Skilpad takes us back in time on a journey of myth and mayhem, through foreign exotic lands, slave ships and perilous boat rides, to the Cape Colony where foreign traded slaves were put to work under horrific circumstances.  Amongst the devastating losses of homeland, community and sacred names,  belonging and humanity, a young Madagasy slave woman called Pelamana and a Khoi man called Jantjie, strike up a friendship in their shared dream of freedom.   Through their heroic story of emancipation, Secretary Bird finds the courage to not only face the truth of her past, but to re-write her own future story of Freedom and Self love.

 Die name wat ons gee is n gemeenskaplike poppespel opvoering wat die lewens van ons voorvaders en die mense van die Barrydale gemeenskap, wat in die 1800’s  in slawerny en ingeboekte arbeid in die landelike gebiede gevorseer was, te onthou, te eer en te vier.

Ons storie word  deur die oë van die ou Skilpad en die jong ontstuimige Sekretaris voël wat vergeet het hoe om te vlieg noudat sy haar passie vir die lewe en die bedoeling van die wereld bevraagteken gesien.

Skilpad neem ons ver terug op ‘n reis van mites, deur eksotiese lande, slaweskepe en gevaarlike bootreise, na die Kaap kolonie waar buitelandse slawe gevorseerd is om te werk onder die slegste omstandighede.

Tussen die verwoestende verlies van land, gemeenskappe en heilige name, die gevoel van behoort en mensdom, word n jong slaaf van Madagaskar genaamd Pelamana en n Khoi man genaamd Jantjie  agv hul drome van Vryheid bevriend.

Deur hulle heldhaftige storie van emansipasie vind Sekretaris Voël nie net die moed om die waarhede van haar verlede te konfronteer nie, maar om ook haar eie toekoms met Vryheid en liefde te herskryf. 

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PELAMANA and her remaining family, her brother and sister, are taken off the ships by soldiers.  A giant head puppet, MR PINCH the slaver arrives. It is a lively slave auction.  MR. PINCH sadistically announces the rules of the Tulbagh Code. PELAMANA’s people still cannot accept what is happening to them.  It is a ludicrous scene. They are given ridiculous new names. They have their new  names hung around their necks like weights, and they are forced to introduce themselves by their slave names. A farmer, called VAN TONDER inspects the slaves.  He checks their physical bodies for any weaknesses and when he sees PELAMANA  he is impressed with her physical health, and her potential to work hard and bear children as slaves (which can save him a lot of money in the future).  He buys her and sets off as she cries out to her family who are taken away with MR. PINCH.

scene 7, from Die Name Wat Ons Gee, 

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Set Design by Glynn Bartlett

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Early Puppet designs in Cape Town with Ukwanda Puppet Makers, as well as designs from the US by Glynn Bartlett, under the mentorship of Adrian Kohler from Handspring (and  Luyanda in a donated Mr Pinch!!!!)

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Welcome to the blog! We’ll be posting lots of information here about the Barrydale Reconciliation Day Parade (coming Dec. 13), so stay tuned! In the meantime, enjoy this picture of our director Aja Marneweck and Mr. Pinch.