Notes on:

Yael Farber’s
LIKE DOVES
WE RISE
SOUTH AFRICA & Apartheid
Apartheid (“apartness” in the language of Afrikaans) is racial segregation which occurred in South Africa from 1948-1990s.

White minority vs. non-white majority.

Groups: Bantu (black South Africans)

Coloured (those of mixed race)
White
Asian (Indian and Pakistani South Africans)

Apartheid laws affected every aspect of life in South Africa:

- non-white South Africans lived in different areas from whites
- inter-racial marriage was prohibited
- employment opportunities depended on racial classification
- separate public facilities for whites and non-whites
- Black South Africans could not own property
- education was segregated

A black nanny who took the white child she was looking after to the park would be unable to sit on a bench with the child.
Nelson Mandela
(1918-2013)
•Birth name: Rolihlahla Mandela

•Primary school teacher gave him the name of “Nelson” as it was custom to give all students
“Christian” names.

•His father died when he was 12 and he became ward of the state.

•Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years by the South African apartheid government for standing up
against a government that was committing egregious human rights abuses against black South
Africans.

•He was released from prison in 1990 and went on to lead the way for the abolition of apartheid in
1994. He was elected as South Africa's first black president that same year. 
About the play:
Five black South Africans recall their own true stories of growing up under apartheid in a mix of song, dance
and theatrical performance.

This musical play begins and ends with water. Water to cleanse the body. Water to wash away the past.

The opening scene shows the five cast members standing in old metal basins. They are trying to wash
themselves, but it's a difficult task. The basins are too small. Throughout the play, water is a metaphor for new
cleanliness that South Africa has experienced since the end of Apartheid. The survivors of the Apartheid years
have had to reclaim their lives and start again.
About the play:
The first moment is just voices, singing in the dark.

The call-and-response — performed in one of the show’s seven South African languages — suggests the start of
a religious ceremony.

Then, each of the actors tells a story based on his or her own childhood. Though often harrowing, they are sadly
typical of what happened in the divided country and are representative of the many millions of stories that will
never be told.
The Performers:
Bongi Mpongwana
Bongi starts things off with her tale of being abandoned as a very young girl and making her own way in a
suffering village. 

She and her older sister were abandoned by her parents and forced to beg for food in their village at a time when
none of their neighbours had much to spare.

A child’s need for emotional help is piteously illustrated by her seeking affection from an alcoholic grandfather.
He was useless as a provider and a caregiver, but she loved him desperately anyway.
Mpume
Bongi’s older sister.
Almost like a maternal figure to Bongi.

Tatomkhulu
Bongi’s grandfather, whom she loved deeply.
Bongi says, “He was the only father I have ever known.”
Roelf Matlala
Roelf Matlala’s mixed blood was his burden. His father ends up walking out and his mother sends him to live
with his brother and grandmother.

Roelf speaks of growing up as a light-skinned, biracial boy after apartheid -- a "crime" that results in his being
bullied by his peers and beaten by his teacher.

His persecution at the hands of other children is familiar schoolyard cruelty, but the physical abuse delivered by
the school principal is the stuff of lasting nightmares.
Solly
Roelf’s older brother. Protective of Roelf.

Popo
Principal of Roelf’s school.
A giant, dominating force. She carries a whip (sjambok).
Performance Notes:
There are lots of demands on the cast, both emotionally and physically.

The actors are constantly on the move, gliding from one story to the next.

The songs are unaccompanied, sung in a mixture of Setswana and Afrikaans, and underpin the emotion of the
piece.

The cast members sing traditional songs and prayers with booming, beautiful voices, and they have
choreographed their own dance routines.

Actors move their bodies so as to indicate a moving train, showers, doors, stools.

Good use is made of the sparse props that are available. The metal basins are by turn used as tables, a place to
hide under, and walls that isolate children from their neighbours.

Tim Boyd's lighting is particularly effective during the violent scenes where the long shadows behind the cast
suggest the menace of the perpetrators who are following them.
Performance Notes:
Though much of the text is not in English, there is enough English in the script to let the audience get the gist of
what’s happening.

The actors fill in the gaps with their performances.

We don’t need to know exactly what Mpongwana says as her sister runs away, since her desperate tone and
agonized face are easily understood.

Actors are so energetic that sweat mists the air.

Every segment gets underscored with synchronized stomp dancing or choral shouts.

Yet for all its pain, the play is performed with joy.
“It is only in going back that I can move forward.”