Charles Fourie’s critically acclaimed play “The Parrot Woman” is back at the Market Theatre after its premiere over three decades ago.
The thought-provoking theatre production is set against the backdrop of the Anglo-Boer war in the 19th century, and stars award-winning stage and television performers Gontse Ntshegang (Christina) and Andre Lotter (Venter).
In the new version of the play, a woman of African descent is found on a farm with the dead bodies of a white farmer, his wife and children.
The British soldier who guards her reveals a painful and touching truth about this mysterious and apparently mad woman’s relationship with the farmer, his wife and children.
Speaking to IOL Entertainment, Fourie said he adapted “The Parrot Woman” to bring to life a part of history which was seldom told, that many black South Africans were also imprisoned in concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer war in 1901.
“This version that we’re doing now came to light when myself and James Ngcobo were talking about adapting this play and we came to the realisation that very few people know about the concentration camps where black women and black farm workers were kept.
“It was not just the Afrikaners or the Boers that were kept in the concentration camps by the British (troops). As history goes, in any civil war …
“African people get involved in white man’s wars. And this is what happened during the Anglo-Boer war and the Batswana and Basotho people fought alongside the Boers.
“African people being in the war was not spoken about. Not long after the war ended the focus shifted to apartheid and they were kind of forgotten.”
According to Fourie, he wanted to highlight this part of history because thousands of black people died in concentration camps.
“These camps were overcrowded, the captives underfed and the conditions poor. There were limited medical supplies and staff. And it is estimated that more than 15 000 black African people died in segregated concentration camps,” according to an article from South African History Online which Fourie encouraged every South African read.
In the new play, Fourie has changed the character of Christina who was originally a white woman, the farmer’s wife, to a black farm worker.
“The play touches on the themes of war from the unique perspective of two characters that are seen as complete outsiders.
“Take Venter, his mother is British and his father is Afrikaans, so he was seen as a traitor for joining the British and if you follow in the storyline, he ends up killing his own father in the firing squad.
“Christina is estranged from her own family. She goes to this Afrikaans family, and she looks after the children … she becomes so involved in their personal lives the point that she even becomes the farmer’s lover.
“And all of this is just two individuals facing pain, forgiveness and finding solace in each other.”
The story of “The Parrot Woman” is not only a war story, it’s a universal story of love and healing and mental illnesses that are a direct result of childhood trauma.
“We all have suffered trauma, especially in South Africa, from different perspectives and within different cultures. And so we look at it from that perspective – she (Christina) is perceived as mad, but she's not mad.
“She’s dealing with a lot of trauma and as the play develops, you realise that what is perceived as madness is just somebody that's really just trying to get her life back in place.”
Fourie, who grew up during apartheid, said he had always used theatre and humour to shed light on some of the injustices that took place during that dark period.
“I started here at the Market Theatre in the 80s as a 19-year-old playwright and I wrote a play called ‘Big Boy’, which was staged in 1988 or ‘89 and was based in an interrogation room in the Eastern Cape.
“In those days, a lot of the young, school-going children were activists and security police would lock them up and torture them. Even in that play, I realise theatre is the greatest tool for exposing the hard truths, even at that time.”
Fourie is planning a national tour of the production that will begin in Pretoria, then move to Cape Town, followed by Durban and the rest of the country.
“The Parrot Woman” is currently staging at the Market Theatre until September 25.
As the country marks Heritage Month, we look at theatre productions that aim to celebrate our nation's rich and diverse cultures and traditions.
Paul Slabolepszy’s Fordsburg Finest
Pieter Toerien Montecasino.
Date: September 6 – October 9.
Paul Slabolepszy’s “Fordsburg Finest” hits the Pieter Toerien Montecasino this week, after a successful run in Cape Town earlier this month.
In his new play, which centres on an empowered and impassioned woman, Slabolepszy takes the audience on a nostalgic journey of recognition, sensitivity and insight relating to the return of Thandeka, played by Chi Mhende, from exile in America.
“Fordsburg’s Finest” is a story of homecoming, healing and ultimately, the story of hope,” said Mhende in a recent interview with IOL Entertainment.
“This is the story of two strangers who find themselves through other people, which I think has been, and should be, a life lesson, and life journey.”
Karatara
Baxter Theatre Centre.
Date: September 20 – 24.
The play tells the story of the devastating Knysna fires of 2018. On the October 29, in the middle of the night, a blazing inferno incinerated a small town. The residents lost everything, some even their lives.
This deeply personal dance drama deals with the loss of family, home, community and land. It examines the complex racial and social history of the communities of the area, and how political powers and the media exploited this tragedy.
Queen Elizabeth's funeral live-stream
The Rhumbelow Theatre.
Date: September 19.
People across the world will join the British royal family on Monday, September 19 as they bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II.
In honour of the queen, who was passionate about the arts, The Rhumbelow Theatre will broadcast the funeral service on the big screen from 9am.
Theatre lovers and patrons are invited to the live screening of the funeral of Britain’s longest-serving monarch, who died on Thursday, September 8, at Balmoral, in Scotland. The queen will be buried beside her husband, Prince Philip, in St George's Chapel, at Windsor Castle.