FARBER A History of Text and Production Development and Director's Programme Notes

FARBER: Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise
FARBER, Yael (2008) Theatre as Witness, LONDON: Oberon Books
A History of Text and Production Development (pp. 89/90)
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 actor’s biographical details prior to the first
day of the creative process. Testament to the all-pervasive nature of Apartheid, Farber needed to
condut no further selective casting process based on the contecnt of the actor’s life experiences.
Being black South Africans, these five artists inevitably hasd 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. Evening 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 the Oxford Playhouse (who was in the process of bringing Farber’s adaptation of Julius Caesar SeZeR - to the UK) saw Amajuba for the first time, and was immediately passionate about presenting
the work on a larger scale in the UK. In 2003, Ms Francis presented Amajuba for a short but highly
successful season at her theatre in Oxford. An extensive tour of the UK - by the Oxford Playhouse in
association with The Farber Foundry - followed in 2004. The continued investment and faith in the
production by Ms Francis and The Oxford Playhouse would prove instrumental to the international
profile the production would come to develop as it toured in association with The Playhouse.
Amajuba enjoyed enormous critical and audience success as it played across the UK - from small
towns, to The Barbican Theatre and The Edinburgh Festival in 2004 - winning The Angel Herald Award
and transferring to the West End. The production experienced two cast member replacements during
these years, which (due to its biographical nature) changed the text substantially each time. The
integrity of Amajuba is based on the premise that Farber would re-work the text to accommodate
the new testimony of any new cast member, but the core concept and remaining testimonies were
untouched.
FARBER: Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise
FARBER, Yael (2008) Theatre as Witness, LONDON: Oberon Books
The production has gone on to play extensively and to stunning response around the world in cities
across Ireland, Australia and the USA - including a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway New York City
run at The Culture Project (for which a Drama Desk award nomination followed in 2007). The
production continued to travel internationally under the management of The Farber Foundry for
several years, until it was retired in 2007 - despite continued invitations from around the world to
this day.
Director’s Programme Note (pp. 91/92)
Yael Farber
Oxford, UK, Premier International Performance, 2003
‘You need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.’
South Africa is an extraordinary country in so many ways. Indeed the relatively peaceful transition
from almost half a century of brutal oppression to democracy was nothing short of miraculous. Yet
beneath the hype and sense of possibility emanating from our country lies the dark current of
consequence. There are statistics and numbers that will some day speak to our grandchildren of the
damage wrought by Apartheid… But the emotional devastation of those years cannot be audited.
Forced Removals - while indeed socio-politically significant - on a more delicate level tore families
apart, frightened children, and ruptured the fragile process of growing up. The State of Emergency
declared in the 1980s - while explosive to the masses - was a shadow that fell upon countless
adolescents. Instead of grappling with heady days of teenage insecurity and awakening sexuality,
they were facing down war vehicles with nothing but stones and courage at 15 years old. The cold
technicality of The Land Act & Group Areas Act indeed perverted the socio-economic structure of a
country but the childhood years infected with poverty and relentless hunger haunt those who carry
these memories today. The chillingly exact legislation of the Apartheid regime left in its wake
countless lives irrevocably changed. The flexibility with which survivors of these years have had to
rise to embrace the ‘new’ South Africa has inspired the world - but left little time for looking back to
reclaim the emotional shrapnel left from those dark years… Somewhere out there is a metaphorical
scrapyard where these lost details lie - waiting to be reclaimed. It is to this shattered landscape of
memory that the actors agreed to return when we embarked on the creative process of Amajuba.
Everything they will share with you tonight is true…the intimate details of their own childhoods lived
within the Apartheid divisions. Embarking on this journey, we held fast to the notion that until you go
back and claim each broken piece of your past you can never be truly free. Amajuba is telling of five
‘small’ stories plucked from the millions untold - for indeed we are a nation of too many sorrows to
recount. We hope that the light of these five stories remembered will shine for the countless that will
remain untold. Amajuba was created as a proud acknowledgement of the inexplicable hope that has
continued to burn in South Africa’s people - even in the darkest years. It bears testimony to the
extraordinary spirituality present in our country despite the devastation - and is a celebration of the
fact that despite the damage, and against all odds…
From the Dust, Like Doves We Rise.