Engaging with genocide on stage
BRAAMFONTEIN - A critically acclaimed play that deals with the 1994 Rwandan genocide will be staged at the Wits Theatre this month.
Hate Radio of the International Institute of Political Murder will be presented to South African audiences for the first time on this tour, organised by the Goethe-Institut and Swiss arts council Pro Helvetia.
“Based on extensive research and interviews with… 50 contemporary witnesses of the Rwandan genocide… the script for Hate Radio is primarily based upon excerpts of real transmissions made by the popular Rwandan radio station RTLM, which has gone down in history as one of the most cynical propaganda instruments deployed during the [genocide],” said Goethe-Institut’s Ben Keuffel.
“With indescribable cynicism, the employees of the popular broadcaster masterminded an advertising campaign for genocide, for months.”
The schedule included pop music, sports reports, political pamphlets and incitement to murder.
“The grooves of the latest Congolese bands and the most aggressive race theory came together inside a few square metres, and formed a dark laboratory of racist ideology,” he said.
The play will allow the inflammatory Kigali radio station to return to the airwaves again via a reconstructed radio studio, separated from the audience by a glass wall.
An hour-long broadcast from RTLM will be made onstage and will be transmitted to each audience member’s headphones.
“Viewers do not only get confronted with human beings being talked out of their humanity, but at the same time, they will become sympathetic witnesses of the destructive and indelible consequences,” said Keuffel.
“During the performance, the walls of the rebuilt studio serve as projection surfaces for a video installation showing selected stories of former perpetrators and victims.”
The installation will include original material from RTLM, texts from extremist publications, and witness statements.
The play will be in French with English subtitles, and no one under the age of 16 will be admitted.
Hate Radio will run from 13 until 16 February at the Wits Theatre.
On 14 February, in co-operation with Drama for Life, a panel discussion at Wits Amphitheatre will raise questions that concern the present-day relevance and forms of appearance of racist violence and its scope for representation in art.
Hate Radio will also travel to Cape Town and Maputo.
Details: www.goethe.de/johannesburg; www.webtickets.co.za
