South Africans enter the boots of the white conqueror – this presentation may change your perception of migration

Two men in the theater performance. — Dark Noon’s style is Western. European settlers are clearing indigenous representatives. In roles in Thulani Zwane and Mandla Gaduka.

In Dark Noon visiting Finland, South Africans play European American immigrants. The genre is a western. Weapons speak and laughter gets stuck in the throat.

There is a rugby match against Natives against Settlers. It doesn’t look very fair: the team of the settlers wins the indigenous people just by relying on weapons.

We are at the Espoo Theater, where a performance by the Danish Fix Foxy group called *Dark Noon *. It is a cunning and inventive story of migration.

It tells of poor and starved Europeans who, in the 19th century, rolled over the sea in the 19th century for a better standard of living.

Does it sound familiar? That’s it.

– I can step into the counterparts. As if I was changing a role. As a performer, it feels empowering that I can experience the other part and express emotions in my own way, Malulyck.

Joiha! Now let’s make the westerners new

The genre is Western. The presentation goes through the birth of the United States nation. The style familiar from the West includes cowboy and \”Indians\ gold miners and missionaries.

The spirit – also white – is cheap and bangs are in frequent use. Similarly, tar and feathers.

Representatives of indigenous peoples will be disgusted with a pity of settlement. This is also evidenced by the rugby match. The bank is robbed and the thief looks like a villain of the African star.

* Dark Noon* plays with Westernie narrative and familiar catalogs.

\”Western films Cowboys and Indians deal with current topics: representation, minorities, and who can tell anyone’s stories,\” says director Biering.

The man prepares by spreading talc. — Actors sprinkle white powder on their face during the performance.

Men in a row wigs on. — Dark Noon’s story begins with a health check for those arriving in America. In Mandla Gaduka, Thulani Zwane and Katlego Kaygee Letsholonyana.

Whiteface mask can release

* In Dark Noon* Actors have Blonde enough and whiteface mask, a huge amount of powder they throw on their face throughout the show.

It has long been clear in the theater that Caucasians do not make blackface, which has a racist history mockery of African -American culture.

WhiteFace is missing from the background.

– It feels liberating. It gives the other party the opportunity to experience how the colonized people have felt for years, Malulyck says.

Malulyck says that as the Actors slowly add white powder and put blonde pots on their head, the audience’s reaction can be sensed: the condition changes.

Different audiences react differently depending on how they feel the story.

– For some it is not so close because we tell it through America’s history. For me, however, this is a global story.

The city will be erected during the presentation

Small houses on the prairie, an entire village with salmon and rails are built in front of our eyes during the performance.

As a result, the city -based city resembles both Westerne and Johannesburg’s Township, poor neighborhoods, which were isolated by dark -skinned people at the time of apartheid.

Malulyck grew in the Themsiba Township, which represents the rugged side of South Africa. At the time of the Apartheid, his community had gangs that were influenced by watching the Westerns.

– Western films presented the use of weapons in a romantic light, and it was not a good thing in Township, where many died just because of the weapons.

During the performance, the performer stands in front of a cross -decorated scene, the audience is observant. — The church of the church is gathered from the audience. Pastor Siyambonga Alfred Mduubeki.

Repressing matters

Tupe Biering wrote the story together with the actors in workshops and on improvisation. Workshops were held in Johannesburg and Copenhagen.

Biering gave his group ideas and titles they went to take together.

– I could bring a role character like sheriff or situation like a duel. I asked people to tell who they thought was sheriff and what the injustice means to them. The performance thus became a story about their lives, Bierying says.

For the director, the realization began a fun and playful journey. When the team created a representation of European immigrants, Bierying could occasionally see himself out of the eyes and realize something he had never realized before.

While working on the performance, much discussed who could present anyone and who has power.

Malulyck emphasizes that the representation matters and that is why the show has also been eliminated along the way. One of the actors performs Chinese and initially replicates with a Chinese accent.

– We wanted to tell the story of the oppress, we don’t mock the oppressed. The Chinese accent was omitted because we found it offensive and there is no intention of offending anyone, Malulyck says.

Two people present a scene where a man in a cowboy outfit looks at a bowed woman on the theater stage. — During the performance, the Saluuna and the brothel is built on the stage, where \n Bongani Bennedict Masango and Lillian Malulyck are the characters.

The public can participate

* In Dark Noon* part of the audience can be viewed exceptionally close. Actors invite the audience to line dance, church and bank, among other things.

Now you can participate and it is always fun for Biering.

\”When we are in one room in any case, it would be ridiculous not to create a space where we can interact with each other,\” says the director.

According to Biering, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe performance is that we build the city together, live it together, and see events developing in front of our eyes.

The performance received its premiere in Copenhagen in 2019 and has since toured around the world. Malulyck says that the audiences are different. Some are happy to participate, others are not so much.

When Malulyck hears that some Finns may be shy, he will not be stunned. Apparently, Germany was the same thing. However, no one is forced.

– We Actors communicated with each other during the performance. It is very important to us that we protect viewers, he assures.

* Dark Noon* has received a lot of praiseworthy, downright praiseworthy reviews while traveling around the world. For example, the British The Guardian gave it a full five stars.

Now is the Espoo Theater that now uses the name

*Dark Noon visit March 27 -April 3 At the Espoo Theater.*