Nicola Hanekom’s Land van skedels – A Remembrance of Things Past and Present

Abstract

Nicola Hanekom’s Land van Skedels had its premiere at the Clover Aardklop National Arts Festival in October 2013 and this production, as well as later ones, received glowing receptions from both theatre audience and theatre critics. She was commissioned by an Afrikaans newspaper (Die Burger) and an Afrikaans television channel (kykNET) to write Land van skedels. She was requested to focus in the play on the Anglo-Boer War, as well as the role played by Emily Hobhouse in this war. The main theme is, as can be expected, in a play that works with historical material, the theme of remembrance. The play is not a realistic depiction of the war and the concentration camps where many white (and black) women and children often died after a period of drawn-out suffering. Her play is a subjective and sensory depiction of traumatic memories and makes use of both historical and literary references to evoke these memories. These references are discussed within the context of theatre memory studies. It is clear from the references to other wars and camps in this play (i.e. Rwanda, Auschwitz) that humanity seems doomed to repeat its own mistakes and that Hanekom’s play is thus emblematic of all wars and all concentration camps.

Nicola Hanekom se Land van skedels het sy première gehad op die Clover Aardklop Nationale Kunsfees in Oktober 2013, waar dit (sowel as latere produksies) deur beide teatergehore en teaterkritici besonder goed ontvang is. Sy het die werk in opdrag van ʼn Afrikaanse dagblad (Die Burger) en ʼn Afrikaanse televesiekanaal (kykNET) geskryf, met die versoek om te fokus op die Anglo-Boere-oorlog en veral ook op die rol wat Emily Hobhouse daarin gespeel het. The hooftema is soos te verwagte in ʼn drama wat werk met historiese materiaal, die tema van herinnering. Die drama is nie ʼn realistiese uitbeelding van die oorlog en die konsentrasiekampe waarin baie wit (en swart) vrouens en kinders na ʼn periode van uitgerekte lyding gesterf het nie. Haar drama is ʼn subjektiewe en sensoriese uitbeelding van traumatiese herinneringe, wat deurgaans gebruik maak van beide historiese en literêre verwysings om hierdie herinneringe op te roep. Hierdie verwysings is bespreek binne die konteks van teater-herinneringstudies. Dit is duidelik uit die verwysings na ander oorloë en konsentrasiekampe (bv Rwanda, Auschwitz) dat die mensdom gedoem is om sy foute te herhaal en dat Hanekom se drama dus emblematies is van alle oorloë en konsentrasiekampe.