Tuesday 5 September, in collaboration with Haags Verhaal!
Eat together with fellow city dwellers and listen to personal stories. Get on the carousel and be taken across the island of the Zuiderparktheater to multiple story stages and kitchens. The Hague is a city of many cultures, much of which stems from our colonial history. During this Smakelijke Verhalenparade, people from Maroon, Javanese-Surinamese, Papua and Caribbean backgrounds will tell stories they got from their (for) parents or that tell something about their history. These special stories will be complemented by performances. There will also be a delicious snack from the storyteller's kitchen. These are stories from our colonial and slavery past, coming together in the commemorative Year of Slavery in the Zuiderpark Theatre.
What can you expect?
As a guest of this magical evening, you will be divided into one of five groups. For each course, you and your group will walk past a restaurant where you will be served a dish. In each restaurant, personal stories will be told and you will listen to artists. Between the courses of this special storytelling dinner, you will be escorted from one restaurant to another.
Admission is €11,- p.p. incl. service charge and can be booked via zuiderparktheater.nl. This price includes 5 dishes (vegetarian) and the performances. Drinks can be bought at the bar.
About the narrators and performers:
Nico Jouwe and singer-songwriter Robinson Jouwe
Nico Jouwe was part of a family that had to leave Dutch New Guinea, Holland's last colony in the East, headlong in the summer of 1962. His father, Papuan leader Nicolaas Jouwe, was vice-president of parliament there. The Netherlands had promised the Papuans independence. West Papua was to be called the new nation, but the Netherlands handed the country over to Indonesia without involving the Papuans. Many Papuans fled the country to escape Indonesian oppression, which continues to this day. From the Netherlands, Papuans continue the fight for self-determination. Nico talks about the influence of Papua culture on his identity. Family history and Papua culture are also a rich source of inspiration for his son Robinson, a musician and composer. Together, they provide a moving performance that tells a part of our colonial history.
Josè Tojo and Kula Skoro
Jose Tojo tells a story from Maroon culture, playing the apinti, a drum. Messages used to be conveyed with that instrument. Maroons are descendants of Africans who were forcibly brought to Surinam by slave traders to work on the plantations. There, they freed themselves by fleeing to the jungle. Along the rivers, they built new communities with their own culture. They waged guerrilla wars against the white settlers and planters to get goods and weapons and free peers. From 1760 (more than 100 years before the abolition of slavery), the Maroons made peace with the coloniser. Jose Tojo is artistic director of Kula Skoro, a dance and music company that upholds Maroon culture. During the national Keti Koti Commemoration, he accompanied winti priestess Marian Markelo on the apinti. Tonight, he performs for you in the tasty story parade.
Phylis Rooks and Budoyo Mekar Sari Dancers
The first Javanese contract workers arrived in Suriname by ship on 9 August 1890 to work on the plantations. Slavery had been abolished and the plantation owners needed new workers. These were often recruited from among the poor in Indonesia, China and India. And lured under false pretences. Phylis Rooks' grandfather was one of people who was still able to recount this to his descendants. He came from a poor family in Indonesia who worked on the palm oil plantation. In Suriname, everything would be better. Phylis tells the story of how her grandfather must have experienced the journey and reception in Suriname as a 6-year-old boy. The Budoyo Mekar Sari Dancers led by Mavis Djoewan will show classical javanese dance.
Rienaysa and friends
Rienaysa Lamp-Antonia was born on 16 June 1987 in Curacao and was raised by her grandmother and grandfather. Elements such as Curaçao history, music, customs and the language Papiamentu formed the main basis of her upbringing. She inherited her talent for singing, writing and reciting poetry from her grandmother and her dancing talent from her grandfather. From the age of 5, she has been on stage both nationally and internationally in various capacities (singing, dancing, poetry). Together with accompaniment on the tambu, she will take us into a Caribbean fairy tale that says a lot about our colonial past.
About the organisers:
Hague Story
Haags Verhaal goes around the city like a travelling story circus to bring people and communities together and let them share their stories. In doing so, it aims to build bridges in The Hague. www.haagsverhaal.nl
The Zuiderpark Theatre
The Hague's open-air theatre in the green oasis of Zuiderpark. In summer, there's all kinds of things to do in and around our theatre. Zuiderparktheater develops activities together with socio-cultural institutions. In doing so, it listens carefully to their needs and wants to make the audience part of what they want to see and experience in the theatre. With a team of about 10 professionals and more than 80 volunteers, we transform these wishes into a beautiful and meaningful programme. Not only do we offer activities in our theatre, the Zuiderparktheater also goes out into the neighbourhood. In this way, we try to introduce different audiences - for whom it is not self-evident to go to the theatre - to our programme in an accessible way.