VIELLEICHT
Postcolonial Documentation Theatre Theatre & Performance
The “African Quarter” was not so called to honour its African residents, but because it was where the German dream of becoming a major colonial power manifested itself in 25 street names. Here you will find Kameruner Straße and Togostraße – and until 2022 there were also three streets named after the founders of German colonies. Activists fought for decades to have them renamed after African resistance leaders.
Djedje and Yé talk on a video link to activists who tell them about the colonisers and about Cornelius Fredericks and the Manga Bell family, after whom two of the streets are now named. Djedje, who is himself French with Ivorian roots, describes his research in Berlin, dancing in its clubs and an online date who only wants to meet him because he is Black. To him, Berlin seems like a mirror, holding his Blackness up in front of his eyes.
“Berlin is a city of selective memory,” one activist in the video says. There are no monuments to remind us of German colonial crimes and the resistance to them. African reality is ignored. ‘Maybe’ confidently puts it on stage.
reviews
cast
This project was made possible by all the activists who contributed to its research phase and who shared their knowledge, their experiences and their dreams. Direction: Absent.e pour le moment, Concept: Cédric Djedje, Performers: Cédric Djedje, Safi Martin Yé, Dramaturgy: Noémi Michel, Outside Eyes: Diane Muller, Ludovic Chazaud, Writers: Ludovic Chazaud, Noémi Michel, Stage Design: Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Consultant: Marco Ievoli, Stage Construction: Atelier construction Vidy, Choreography: Ivan Larson, Sound Design, Composition: Ka(ra)mi, Costume Design, Kanga Maker: Tara Mabiala, Costume Maker: Eva Michel, Graphic Design: Claudia Ndebele, Lighting Design: Léo Garcia, Consultant: Joana Oliveira, Video: Valeria Stucki, Transcriptions: Eva Michel, Bel Kerkhoff-Parnell, Orfeo, Janyce Djedje, Production Manager: Lionel Perrinjaquet, Tutu Production
credits
A production by Absent.e pour le moment, Le Grütli – Centre de production et de diffusion des Arts Vivants, Lausanne and Théâtre Vidy Lausanne. With funding from the Swiss Cultural Foundation Pro Helvetia, the State of Geneva, Loterie Romande, the City of Geneva’s Agenda21, the Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Fondation Leenaards, the Porosus Endowment Fund, the Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung SIS, the SSA – Société Suisse des Auteurs, the Jan Michalski Foundation, the Migros Cultural Percentage and the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation.