A research project on Charlotte Maxeke, titled "Mother of Black Freedom“, has been adapted for a new puppetry and object theatre production which will be premiered at the Star Theatre (formerly the Fugard Theatre) in Cape Town from February 7–11.
The research was conducted by Thozama April as part of her doctoral studies in the Department of History at UWC in the early 2000s.
Maxeke was the first black woman from South Africa to graduate with a university degree in the sciences, which she received from Wilberforce University in the US in 1903. She became a renowned intellectual of the Black Atlantic, an early political campaigner for the plight of women in South Africa, and a significant thinker and modernist at the turn of the 20th century, whose intellectual leadership influenced many of the early leaders of the freedom struggle.
According to Gasant Abarder, UWC’s spokesperson, Maxeke was also an artist and a singer. Her astounding experiences across the world as a member of the African Jubilee Choir in Europe and America in the late 1890s provide the production with references to and textures of her remarkable and worldly life experiences at the turn of the 20th century.
“Dr April’s research as a Next Generation Scholar at the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at UWC connects postgraduate study and advanced research to puppetry, object theatre, and sound and visual art, which sets the CHR apart from other institutions of higher education. It also speaks to UWC’s Institutional Operating Plan goal of contributing to the transformation of society through knowledge production,” said Abarder.
April, who is based at the University of Fort Hare, recalled that she first came across Maxeke’s name in her undergraduate studies in the Department of History at UWC while she was doing a course titled, “Women and Resistance in Southern Africa”. The course offered a broad survey of the literature on women’s resistance in southern Africa.
“From my first encounter with this literature, I noticed how women are generally written out or erased from the histories they created. It is then that I decided to pursue a study on Charlotte Maxeke,” she said.
She said it never occurred to her that the study would make such an impact.
“However, given the positive reception and rigorous critique of my work, I am truly humbled by the way the story has evolved, while acknowledging the interventions of other researchers and artists who are beginning to take the story forward.
“I am excited for the younger generation of researchers who now have a narrative about the women who made significant strides in society, whose histories are now beginning to set the tone in public conversations about social redress, gender, and equality. Her monumental contribution enhances our learning experience beyond the areas that have habitually been presented to women in society. Here I refer specifically to Maxeke’s interventions in the arts, education, religion and politics. The play encapsulates the ethos of Maxeke’s work in many ways; only if society and the world could learn from her example,” April said.
According to CHR director Professor Heidi Grunebaum, it is not biographical but re-imagines Maxeke’s ideas and life’s work through puppetry arts, combining memory, history and object theatre to breathe life into the story of an extraordinary South African woman that dominant historical records have seemingly deemed a minor reference.
“‘Maxeke’ is directed by the CHR’s Itumeleng wa Lehulere in collaboration with the Ukwanda Puppets and Design Collective. It is based on an original play text by Buhle Ngaba with musical direction by Neo Muyanga, puppetry direction by Aja Marneweck, and projection design and creation by Kirstin Cummings,” he said.
Tickets are available on Webtickets, with prices ranging from R20 to R120.