Told against the backdrop of the brutality of Belgian King Leopold II pillage and his enslavement of the Congolese people and juxtaposed with racist American Minstrel-Show sketches, this is the story of one village's losing struggle to stay together  and keep the old ways.

For two weeks in June 2002, Travesty Theatre converted the Lotus Eaters Gallery into a virtual greenhouse. With real dirt on the ground and real tree branches everywhere, this was a living, breathing jungle environment. The audience sat in the middle of the room and could see all the atrocities unfold around them.

Performed entirely in blackface, this show brought the horrors   of the near past into viceral reality and challenged our atitudes towards race and history

 

Images

 

Cast and crew

 

Cast in alphabetical order

 

Melissa Ambs...............Shayla, Broommaid #1, housewife

 

Eric Bergeron..............Moontaga, son

Mark Campton............Chief Kuntah, Step, Rufus, grandfather, new pet

 

Kai-Sun Chan..............Idi, Fetchit

 

Natalie Gural...............Mikhaila, Broommaid#2, Fetchit's Wife

 

Alyona Hausvatter......schoolteacher

 

Jason McLean.............Bouba, King Leopold II, Jamal, preacher, salesman

 

Teik.............................Orock, father

Directed by Alison Rockbrand                      Set Design by Eric Bergeron

Choreography by Natalie Gural                     Music by Sebastien

Voice Training by Melissa Ambs                   FOH by Maura

Stage Manager Iz Cox                                  Produced by Daniel Cox

 Written by all of us with the help of Vachel Lindsay’s poem The Congo