Performing Community Memory

PERFORMING COMMUNITY MEMORY

The Performing Community Memory is a project that aims to excavate and remember the forgotten/hidden history of Cape Town’s communities through performance. In this way the project’s method of preserving memory is similar to other modes of memory/ heritage preservation such as the creation of monuments, murals and naming of infrastructure such as roads and buildings to commemorate historical figures and events. The project’s method is also different in that its remembering is active within a moment/ event.

It is a focus area and drives some of our thinking about healing and history and how theatre making can positively engage with that. Some of the performances and activities of the Culture Gangs as well as foci for production development – for examople: G7: OKwe Bokhwe.

G7:OKWE-BOKHWE 2017

G7: Okwe-Bokhwe 2019

As part of the Culture Gangs programme whenever possible the focus on Performing Community Memeory has spanned two months (7- 8 weeks). For 6 weeks performers and theatre- makers from Magnet Theatre’s training programme attend weekly workshops run by Magnet artistic director, Mandla Mbothwe and Culture Gangs facilitators, Yonela Sithela and Zukisani Nongogo. In 2018 the programme will include participants from the 8 Culture Gangs participant groups and will focus on the life of DR. Philip Kgosana. The workshops focus on:

  • Introducing the trainees to what the project is and taking them through an outline of how the research on the subject matter will happen.
  • Visits to the community in which the historical event happened and/or where historical figure(s) is from. The trainees then interact with the community members, conducting interviews to ascertain how the historical event is remembered, who remembers or has knowledge of the historical event is remembered and how much is remembered.