Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord’s The Suit

MEET PETER BROOK Director Peter Brook is one of the giants of experimental theater, known for presenting unconventional works that erase the boundaries between actors and audience. For more than six decades, Brook and his “Living Theatre” have set out to move audiences emotionally and compel them to face uncomfortable truths about our society.

In his 1968 landmark book The Empty Space, Brook states “I can take any empty space and call it a stage.”

David M. Rubenstein Chairman Michael M. Kaiser President Alicia B. Adams Vice President, International Programming Darrell M. Ayers Vice President, Education Additional support for Performances for Young Audiences is provided by Adobe Foundation; The Clark Charitable Foundation; Mr. James V. Kimsey; The Macy’s Foundation; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Park Foundation, Inc.; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; an endowment from the Ryna and Melvin Cohen Family Foundation; U.S. Department of Education; Washington Gas; and by generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.

Presenting Underwriter HRH Foundation Major support is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein.

Additional support is provided by A. Huda and Samia Farouki, The Florence Gould Foundation, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Amalia Perea Mahoney and William Mahoney, The Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, and the State Plaza Hotel.

International government support is provided by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States, the Embassy of Israel in the United States, the Canada Council for the Arts, The National Theatre of Iceland, and the Japan Foundation.

Major support for education and related artistic programming is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program, the National Committee for the Performing Arts, and the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.

International Programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.

www.kennedy-center.org/artsedge Cuesheets are produced by ARTSEDGE, an education program of the Kennedy Center.

The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. © 2014 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD The Suit

Based on The Suit

by Can Themba, Mothobi Mutloatse, and Barney Simon Direction, adaptation, and musical direction

by Peter Brook, Marie-Hélène Estienne, and Franck Krawczyk Hearts will be broken in this tragic tale of a wife’s betrayal and a husband’s revenge set in South Africa during the days of apartheid.

Can music and wit soften the pain?

PERFORMANCE GUIDE

During this performance of a play written by a South African and performed by a French theater company with a British director, watch and listen for: the minimal set and use of props. For example, simple clothing racks become a house wall and window, a bus shelter, an outhouse, a wardrobe, and other objects. “doubling,” as several actors play more than one role. changes in location as actors move simple stage objects such as chairs and dramatic lighting turns day to night and back to day. “breaking the fourth wall,” when actors talk directly to you, the audience. characters narrating or telling the audience about their actions as they do them. humor that attempts to soften the difficult subject matter. how Matilda embraces and “wears” the suit when she is alone.

Cuesheet

SMALL CAST, BIG THEATRICALITY

A Tale of Broken Dreams WHAT HAPPENS IN THE PLAY Philomen and Matilda are a middleclass married couple living in apartheid South Africa in the 1950s. Philomen is a lawyer, a man who by definition has taken an oath to uphold the laws in South Africa—the very laws that oppress him and all black South Africans. Matilda dreams of being a singer and longs to share her voice with the world. She expresses herself as best she can under a repressive system.

One day, Philomen catches Matilda with another man. When the man escapes, but leaves his suit behind, Philomen decides to get his revenge. To punish Matilda, Philomen forces her to treat the suit as a real person. Matilda must feed it, take it out for walks, and care for it as an honored guest. It is a constant reminder of Matilda’s infidelity, an emblem of Philomen’s cruel vengeance—and, in many ways, a larger symbol of the brutality of apartheid.

Matilda sings about her freedom with the words, “Birds flying high, you know how I feel.”

TWO MORE CHARACTERS: MUSIC AND PLACE In The Suit, music is central to the storytelling—so central, in fact, that musicians are onstage throughout the performance. Their tunes both underline the play’s action and accompany the characters when they sing. The musicians also use their instruments to create sound effects like traffic, ringing phones, and door knocks.

Back in the 1940s and into the next decade, Sophiatown was considered the vibrant center of South African music and culture. The play’s narrator tells the audience that “people made the town beautiful” and calls it, “the home of our truth; our place.” But it is also a place of hardship and humiliation, foretold as Matilda sings, “I’ll keep my love hidden in these forbidden games I play.”

During the performance, you’ll hear different kinds of music: traditional African melodies, interpretations of old German love songs (called lieder), and American jazz standards such as “Feeling Good” and “Strange Fruit.” It is the haunting version of “Strange Fruit,” about the lynchings in the American South, that also links apartheidera South Africa to the segregated American South—and hints at the town’s bleak future.

ABOUT CAN THEMBA, SOUTH AFRICA, AND APARTHEID From 1948–1994, there was a system of racial segregation in South Africa called apartheid where the white, Afrikaner minority ruled despite the fact that blacks were in the majority. During this time, the Apartheid Group Areas Act assigned blacks to specific residential and business areas. As a result, nonwhites were forced out of their homes and neighborhoods and moved to smaller, over-crowded areas. Suburbs and towns that were once home to blacks were destroyed and rebuilt as whites-only areas.

The Suit is based on a short story

by South African fiction writer and investigative reporter Can Themba.

In covering the news, Themba wrote about the realities of apartheid in his country. Themba’s short story is as

Can Themba, (1924–1969), left Johannesburg in the early 1960s to become a schoolteacher in Swaziland. He remains one of South Africa’s most revered writers.

political as it is artistic: The destruction of Philomen and Matilda’s marriage is a metaphor for the destruction of Sophiatown and other towns just like it. In one of his news reports, Themba examined how white congregations reacted when he entered whites-only churches. (We see a bit of this story adapted and told in the play.)

Overall, Themba’s objective was to depict the harshness of life in the segregated Johannesburg townships and the frustrations of educated blacks who were forced to live in them.

Notably, it wasn’t until Nelson Mandela was freed from prison and elected president that apartheid ended in South Africa.

ALL PRODUCTION PHOTOS BY JOHAN PERSSON

A Tale of Broken Dreams WHAT HAPPENS IN THE PLAY Philomen and Matilda are a middleclass married couple living in apartheid South Africa in the 1950s. Philomen is a lawyer, a man who by definition has taken an oath to uphold the laws in South Africa—the very laws that oppress him and all black South Africans. Matilda dreams of being a singer and longs to share her voice with the world. She expresses herself as best she can under a repressive system.

One day, Philomen catches Matilda with another man. When the man escapes, but leaves his suit behind, Philomen decides to get his revenge. To punish Matilda, Philomen forces her to treat the suit as a real person. Matilda must feed it, take it out for walks, and care for it as an honored guest. It is a constant reminder of Matilda’s infidelity, an emblem of Philomen’s cruel vengeance—and, in many ways, a larger symbol of the brutality of apartheid.

Matilda sings about her freedom with the words, “Birds flying high, you know how I feel.”

TWO MORE CHARACTERS: MUSIC AND PLACE In The Suit, music is central to the storytelling—so central, in fact, that musicians are onstage throughout the performance. Their tunes both underline the play’s action and accompany the characters when they sing. The musicians also use their instruments to create sound effects like traffic, ringing phones, and door knocks.

Back in the 1940s and into the next decade, Sophiatown was considered the vibrant center of South African music and culture. The play’s narrator tells the audience that “people made the town beautiful” and calls it, “the home of our truth; our place.” But it is also a place of hardship and humiliation, foretold as Matilda sings, “I’ll keep my love hidden in these forbidden games I play.”

During the performance, you’ll hear different kinds of music: traditional African melodies, interpretations of old German love songs (called lieder), and American jazz standards such as “Feeling Good” and “Strange Fruit.” It is the haunting version of “Strange Fruit,” about the lynchings in the American South, that also links apartheidera South Africa to the segregated American South—and hints at the town’s bleak future.

ABOUT CAN THEMBA, SOUTH AFRICA, AND APARTHEID From 1948–1994, there was a system of racial segregation in South Africa called apartheid where the white, Afrikaner minority ruled despite the fact that blacks were in the majority. During this time, the Apartheid Group Areas Act assigned blacks to specific residential and business areas. As a result, nonwhites were forced out of their homes and neighborhoods and moved to smaller, over-crowded areas. Suburbs and towns that were once home to blacks were destroyed and rebuilt as whites-only areas.

The Suit is based on a short story

by South African fiction writer and investigative reporter Can Themba.

In covering the news, Themba wrote about the realities of apartheid in his country. Themba’s short story is as

Can Themba, (1924–1969), left Johannesburg in the early 1960s to become a schoolteacher in Swaziland. He remains one of South Africa’s most revered writers.

political as it is artistic: The destruction of Philomen and Matilda’s marriage is a metaphor for the destruction of Sophiatown and other towns just like it. In one of his news reports, Themba examined how white congregations reacted when he entered whites-only churches. (We see a bit of this story adapted and told in the play.)

Overall, Themba’s objective was to depict the harshness of life in the segregated Johannesburg townships and the frustrations of educated blacks who were forced to live in them.

Notably, it wasn’t until Nelson Mandela was freed from prison and elected president that apartheid ended in South Africa.

ALL PRODUCTION PHOTOS BY JOHAN PERSSON

MEET PETER BROOK Director Peter Brook is one of the giants of experimental theater, known for presenting unconventional works that erase the boundaries between actors and audience. For more than six decades, Brook and his “Living Theatre” have set out to move audiences emotionally and compel them to face uncomfortable truths about our society.

In his 1968 landmark book The Empty Space, Brook states “I can take any empty space and call it a stage.”

David M. Rubenstein Chairman Michael M. Kaiser President Alicia B. Adams Vice President, International Programming Darrell M. Ayers Vice President, Education Additional support for Performances for Young Audiences is provided by Adobe Foundation; The Clark Charitable Foundation; Mr. James V. Kimsey; The Macy’s Foundation; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Park Foundation, Inc.; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; an endowment from the Ryna and Melvin Cohen Family Foundation; U.S. Department of Education; Washington Gas; and by generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.

Presenting Underwriter HRH Foundation Major support is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein.

Additional support is provided by A. Huda and Samia Farouki, The Florence Gould Foundation, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Amalia Perea Mahoney and William Mahoney, The Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, and the State Plaza Hotel.

International government support is provided by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States, the Embassy of Israel in the United States, the Canada Council for the Arts, The National Theatre of Iceland, and the Japan Foundation.

Major support for education and related artistic programming is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program, the National Committee for the Performing Arts, and the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.

International Programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.

www.kennedy-center.org/artsedge Cuesheets are produced by ARTSEDGE, an education program of the Kennedy Center.

The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. © 2014 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

THÉÂTRE DES BOUFFES DU NORD The Suit

Based on The Suit

by Can Themba, Mothobi Mutloatse, and Barney Simon Direction, adaptation, and musical direction

by Peter Brook, Marie-Hélène Estienne, and Franck Krawczyk Hearts will be broken in this tragic tale of a wife’s betrayal and a husband’s revenge set in South Africa during the days of apartheid.

Can music and wit soften the pain?

PERFORMANCE GUIDE

During this performance of a play written by a South African and performed by a French theater company with a British director, watch and listen for: the minimal set and use of props. For example, simple clothing racks become a house wall and window, a bus shelter, an outhouse, a wardrobe, and other objects. “doubling,” as several actors play more than one role. changes in location as actors move simple stage objects such as chairs and dramatic lighting turns day to night and back to day. “breaking the fourth wall,” when actors talk directly to you, the audience. characters narrating or telling the audience about their actions as they do them. humor that attempts to soften the difficult subject matter. how Matilda embraces and “wears” the suit when she is alone.

Cuesheet

SMALL CAST, BIG THEATRICALITY