The Wake

As the stage lights come up, five people stand in small bowls, singing and motioning as though they’re in a shower. One by one, they recall being children in South Africa, and the moment that they realized things were changing, and they were becoming adults. Each of them speak of the difficulty of the past and the desire to move forward. As the sequence comes to a close, one actor describes the past as covered in dust, and says that “until we go back and claim each piece, we will never be free.”

Each of these actors grew up in South Africa during apartheid, a period of colonization much like segregation in the southern United States, when European powers enforced separateness between races according to an assigned legal classification. Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise, is the third of a four-part exhibition at The Walker, called AfricaNOW: Currents of a Continent.

The play, written and directed by Yael Farber, deals with coming of age during apartheid, and the difficulties of a generation subjected to the oppressive environment of the time. A few simple objects adorn the stage and the actors all wear black T-shirts and jeans. The focus is on the stories they have to tell, which Farber does an excellent job showcasing.

The actors demonstrate the difficulty of growing up without enough food and the struggles of being orphans in a poor community. They retell stories of hunger and of trying to survive each day through relationships.

In each sequence, they deal with the space between childhood and adulthood, and the ways in which the apartheid effected their transition and changed their lives. In one man’s story, he tells his experience being of mixed race and of his family following his African father to a designated settlement away from their home. He illustrates the difficulty of becoming a part of a new community, and not quite fitting in because of his background. Towards the end, the main character of the sequence tells the audience of his wishes to go back to a time before the European powers had labeled and relocated him. He compares this transition to learning to swim when one is no longer a child: an embarrassing struggle every day.

Each story has something more to add to the complex picture Farber paints of becoming an adult during apartheid in South Africa. Many of the stories and emotions are easily relatable, making Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise, a common ground for viewers. It also helps to better understand the communality of the human condition, regardless of continent or culture.

Next in the sequence of AfricaNOW events is a band from Benin, in West Africa, called the Gangbé Brass Band. They will be on stage April 14th, co-presented by and held at the Cedar Cultural Center. Their influences and sounds range from Afrobeat to American Jazz, offering a globally conscious brand of music that The Walker says “personifies the global nature of Africa now.”