Authenticity & Diaspora
L. de Vries
Notes on Casting
As we plan to cast an actor who is not George Seremba we might want to consider what is lost in making this change as well as what is gained. As Carole-Anne Upton notes in her article “Real People as Actors — Actors as Real People” casting can serve to help the audience authenticate the narrative being told (Upton 210). When casting for a play one always tries to find the person who can bridge the divide between ‘being’ and ‘doing’ in order to truthfully tell a story. In the case of Come Good Rain, George Seremba has thus far performed the play for the most part (see production history for more details and a few exceptions to this). Thus far in performances the relationship between Seremba and the play text has become clear to the audience and enriched the reaction to the performance. Upton notes that when she saw Come Good Rain, members of the audience only realized the reality of this story when Seremba “roll[ed] up his sleeve to reveal deep scars that match exactly those of the character at the centre of the story” resulting in audible gasps (Upton 217). Thus, the materiality of the performing body and its own archived history has been important for performances thus far. As Charles Mulekwa notes in his dissertation Performing the Legacy of War in Uganda Seremba’s “body unambiguously bears the actual scars of that event” and becomes an “embodied memory” of these events occurring (Mulekwa 208-209). He goes on to write that “to lack Seremba’s body” is “to lack the dimension of the “holy” vessel of the tragic tale” (Mulekwa 289). So while I do not suggest that we paint these scars on the actor or something like that, I do suggest that we find a way to underscore the way in which the actor’s body is also an embodiment of their own cultural memory and diasporic experience. Marvin Carlson writes about the ‘ghost’ of an actor’s body that cannot be separated from the performance which is something we may want to think about (Upton 220). Perhaps a pre-show introduction that very briefly introduces the actor and his own history and relationship to the text: has he experienced exile? How does he relate to this story?
We may want to consider how the audience will be invited to bear witness to this event through the performance. The talk-back with George and others will certainly help. However, as we consider casting we will want to maybe consider someone who has also experienced displacement and can relate to aspects of this story. This moment of reveal in the original performance is a big moment in that the audience is implicated in an event that revolved around political upheaval. By telling this story the audience is also implicated in a story that is a result of international politics. Thus, although this is a unique story the idea of the ‘ghost’ of an actor who enriches the performance is something we should keep in mind while we seek an actor which would be helpful in implicating the audience as witnesses (Upton 220).
Further Readings:
Carlson, Marvin, The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001.
Connolly, Roy and Ralley, Richard (2010), ‘Something real is needed: Constructing and dismantling presence’, Studies in Theatre and Performance, 30: 2, pp. 203–18.
Wilson, Ann. “Bored to Distraction: Auto-performance and the Perniciousness of Presence.” Canadian Theatre Review 79/80 (1994): 33–37.
Works Cited:
Mulekwa, Charles. Performing the Legacy of War in Uganda. Dissertation, Brown University, 2012.
Odom, G. (2017). World Theories of Theatre. London: Routledge, https://doiorg. myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/10.4324/9781315742496
Upton, Carole-Anne. “Real People as Actors—Actors as Real People.” Studies in Theatre and Performance, vol. 31, no. 2, Jan. 2011, pp. 209–222, doi:10.1386/stap.31.2.209_1.
We may want to consider how the audience will be invited to bear witness to this event through the performance. The talk-back with George and others will certainly help. However, as we consider casting we will want to maybe consider someone who has also experienced displacement and can relate to aspects of this story. This moment of reveal in the original performance is a big moment in that the audience is implicated in an event that revolved around political upheaval. By telling this story the audience is also implicated in a story that is a result of international politics. Thus, although this is a unique story the idea of the ‘ghost’ of an actor who enriches the performance is something we should keep in mind while we seek an actor which would be helpful in implicating the audience as witnesses (Upton 220).
Further Readings:
Carlson, Marvin, The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001.
Connolly, Roy and Ralley, Richard (2010), ‘Something real is needed: Constructing and dismantling presence’, Studies in Theatre and Performance, 30: 2, pp. 203–18.
Wilson, Ann. “Bored to Distraction: Auto-performance and the Perniciousness of Presence.” Canadian Theatre Review 79/80 (1994): 33–37.
Works Cited:
Mulekwa, Charles. Performing the Legacy of War in Uganda. Dissertation, Brown University, 2012.
Odom, G. (2017). World Theories of Theatre. London: Routledge, https://doiorg. myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/10.4324/9781315742496
Upton, Carole-Anne. “Real People as Actors—Actors as Real People.” Studies in Theatre and Performance, vol. 31, no. 2, Jan. 2011, pp. 209–222, doi:10.1386/stap.31.2.209_1.
Diaspora & Come Good Rain
Diaspora generally refers to the movement across borders by people. It often refers to leaving one’s “homeland” in response to traumatic events such as “exile, migration, slavery,” and sometimes results in seeking asylum or refugee status which is extremely difficult in many countries (Tilley 305). Diasporic experiences are usually fraught with traumatic memories, although in contemporary transnational travel often these relocations are invested with capitalist motivations including securing employment (Farah 316). Elspeth Tilley has written an article entitled “Staging a ‘Plurality of Vision’: Diasporic Performance in Polycharacter Monodrama” which outlines the way in which polycharacter monodrama functions to explicate the hybridity of cultures that diaspora produces in the individual(Tilley). Uganda was under colonial rule by the British from 1882 to 1962 thus producing multiple power imbalances that are seen throughout the play(Odom 104) . Uganda is now a post-colonial state that continues to experience repercussions of this rule, as well as the political upheavals that occured after. Tilley writes that polycharacter monodrama often takes up themes of “connection, disconnection, and multiplicity on personal and group discourses of identity; and to construct discourses that render these experiences meaningful” that are thus understood through the fractal nature of the performance whereby a single actor performs multiple identities (Tiller 306). Thus, the structure of these performances becomes an extension, or mirroring, of the hybridity of cultures of which the diasporic subject is apart.
Laila Farah has written about her own experience as someone who has spent parts of her life living in the Middle East, the United States and Lebanon and her ability as insider-outsider to “expand audience understanding, foster further exploration, and dispel negative stereotypes” (Farah 318). This ability to use her experience of diasporic subjecthood to as an overt teaching tool is something that happens throughout Come Good Rain. Farah writes about the need for consideration of the “schisms that occur within the diasporic person as she traverses this complicated terrain — for example, the fracturing of the concept of “homeland” and the (sometimes forced) acculturation or assimilation that fragments identity as it was previously known” (Farah 320). This concept of fractured self is one that is clearly evident throughout Come Good Rain when it is performed by Seremba alone or, in our case, by a singular actor.
Seremba has talked about the ways in which performing as multiple characters was a kind of care work for himself in allowing him to empathize and examine the different modes of thought of the various people he encountered throughout his life in Uganda. The shapeshifting between characters is also a tool to avoid the difficulty in reliving his experience too thoroughly. Each character switch is a new challenge. The syncretic style of performance that draws from both Western and African modes of storytelling seems to structure the audience within a liminal space (Mulekwa 205). The performance toggles between Ugandan songs and archetypes that are familiar to Western audiences. There are even references to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Dylan Thomas’ famous poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” (Seremba 58, 63). I am doubtful that anyone has not experienced a disagreement with a teacher or a sense of nostalgia for a particular time with family. And yet, the movement between familiar archetypal moments to events that seem so distant remind us of the difficulty of being a diasporic subject.
The relationship to one’s homeland is a crucial part of one’s identity. Throughout the text we see moments of Seremba’s ties to the geography and architecture of the land. Ancestral roots are left behind when one flees their country along with architectural and cultural heritage — Seremba will always be “Ugandan at heart” (Mulekwa 223). In the play Seremba engages with this material culture that holds within it so much meaning and memory:
“Finally touched and stroked the ancient wall. My ancestors were no longer just names. They began to throb in my bones. I could touch and feel the country as though it had flesh and blood… unlike those lifeless maps of mountains, lakes, and rivers that hung in the back of the classrooms” (Seremba 17).
This kind of engagement with history through tangible objects is something we may want to consider thinking about further. Are the somatic reactions to these objects of great personal history lost when one has fled their homeplace? How can we re-create these feelings for the actor? Some of the ways that these histories are remembered are through intangible cultural artefacts such as storytelling and music. Thus, Come Good Rain, while reminiscing about the lost tangible heritage that comes with fleeing a country, ensures that his history will not be lost by sharing it with audiences around the globe.
Laila Farah has written about her own experience as someone who has spent parts of her life living in the Middle East, the United States and Lebanon and her ability as insider-outsider to “expand audience understanding, foster further exploration, and dispel negative stereotypes” (Farah 318). This ability to use her experience of diasporic subjecthood to as an overt teaching tool is something that happens throughout Come Good Rain. Farah writes about the need for consideration of the “schisms that occur within the diasporic person as she traverses this complicated terrain — for example, the fracturing of the concept of “homeland” and the (sometimes forced) acculturation or assimilation that fragments identity as it was previously known” (Farah 320). This concept of fractured self is one that is clearly evident throughout Come Good Rain when it is performed by Seremba alone or, in our case, by a singular actor.
Seremba has talked about the ways in which performing as multiple characters was a kind of care work for himself in allowing him to empathize and examine the different modes of thought of the various people he encountered throughout his life in Uganda. The shapeshifting between characters is also a tool to avoid the difficulty in reliving his experience too thoroughly. Each character switch is a new challenge. The syncretic style of performance that draws from both Western and African modes of storytelling seems to structure the audience within a liminal space (Mulekwa 205). The performance toggles between Ugandan songs and archetypes that are familiar to Western audiences. There are even references to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Dylan Thomas’ famous poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” (Seremba 58, 63). I am doubtful that anyone has not experienced a disagreement with a teacher or a sense of nostalgia for a particular time with family. And yet, the movement between familiar archetypal moments to events that seem so distant remind us of the difficulty of being a diasporic subject.
The relationship to one’s homeland is a crucial part of one’s identity. Throughout the text we see moments of Seremba’s ties to the geography and architecture of the land. Ancestral roots are left behind when one flees their country along with architectural and cultural heritage — Seremba will always be “Ugandan at heart” (Mulekwa 223). In the play Seremba engages with this material culture that holds within it so much meaning and memory:
“Finally touched and stroked the ancient wall. My ancestors were no longer just names. They began to throb in my bones. I could touch and feel the country as though it had flesh and blood… unlike those lifeless maps of mountains, lakes, and rivers that hung in the back of the classrooms” (Seremba 17).
This kind of engagement with history through tangible objects is something we may want to consider thinking about further. Are the somatic reactions to these objects of great personal history lost when one has fled their homeplace? How can we re-create these feelings for the actor? Some of the ways that these histories are remembered are through intangible cultural artefacts such as storytelling and music. Thus, Come Good Rain, while reminiscing about the lost tangible heritage that comes with fleeing a country, ensures that his history will not be lost by sharing it with audiences around the globe.
Further Resources to Find Audience + Give to Audience
While reading the play for the first time I was struck by his note that Seremba “was commissioned by the people of Bweyogerere to tell [his] story” but, it becomes clear that the play is both for the people and Sermeba’s own “therapeutic voyage” (Seremba 8). The horrors that Seremba experienced on the night of December 10, 1980 were clearly difficult to endure the first time he experienced, but telling of his story for so many audiences across the globe clearly became a cathartic experience for both Seremba and his audience. Mulukwa writes that through Come Good Rain Seremba “wants to relive the memory of home, of what could have been, and of what became of all that was there before. And, it is worth repeating, he wants to heal” (Mulukwa 223). This healing nature of the performance and the agency that accompanies telling one’s story is one that we should try and extend to our audience. During the talk-backs we should encourage community members to share their own story or share their own reactions to the performance. We might also want to include some support groups that audience members can reach out to should they want to meet with other diasporic subjects to continue conversations beyond the night of the performance.
Mulekwa discusses the reaction to a performance of Come Good Rain at Brown University wherein an exiled journalist from Gabon felt as though the play was about all African nations, terror, fear, violence, exile, and home (Mulekwa 241). This reaction to the performance as one that can spur recognition not just from former Ugandans but can open a dialogue to a much more diverse group of people. Toronto is an incredibly diverse city which hosts many immigrants and diasporas from other nations. Mulekwa suggests that the themes of this play are not only tied to members of the African diaspora but diasporic subjects of Yugoslavia and other countries that have seen civil war would likely appreciate this play (Mulekwa 241). Thus, we may want to consider reaching out to a number of diasporic communities to see this performance in Toronto.
Some Ugandan communities we may want to reach out to include Ureach Toronto as well as the Uganda Canadian Diaspora Business Expo (“Uganda”, “Welcome to”). These communities have outlets of reaching the Ugandan diaspora. Although this play is not meant specifically for an Ugandan audience, they may appreciate being invited to see the performance and might be able to engage in a lively post-show conversation. Whether or not they attend the performance we may consider including their information as a further resource for audience members. There are approximately 2000 Ugandans living in the Greater Toronto Area that may be interested in seeing the performance (“Uganda”). Ureach is in contact with African Canadian Online as well as a number of other diasporic communities thus I think it is likely that they would also be interested in our project (“Uganda”).
Further Readings to Explore (regarding Diaspora):
Brown, Benita, Dannabang Kuwabong, and Christopher Olsen. Myth Performance in the African Diasporas: Ritual, Theatre, and Dance. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2014. Print.
Carlson, Marvin, The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001.
Edmondson, Laura. “Genocide Unbound: Erik Ehn, Rwanda, and an Aesthetics of Discomfort.” Theatre Journal, vol. 61, no. 1, 2009, pp. 65–83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40211158. Accessed 23 Nov. 2020.
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks.
Gilbert, Helen, and Jacqueline Lo. “Performing Hybridity in Post-Colonial Monodrama.” Journal of Commonwealth Literature 31.1 (1997): 5–19.
Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Theorizing Diaspora. Ed. Jana Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003. 233–46.
Harvie, Jennifer, and Richard Paul Knowles. “Dialogic Monologue: A Dialogue.” Theatre Research in Canada 15.2 (1994): 136–63.
Hirsch, Marianne, and Nancy K. Miller. Preface. Rites of Return: Diaspora Poetics and the Politics of Memory. New York: Columbia UP, 2011. xi–xiii.
Knowles, Ric. Theatre and Interculturalism. New York: Palgrave, 2010.
Richards, Sandra L. “Function at the Junction: African Diaspora Studies and Theatre Studies.” The African Diaspora and the Disciplines. Ed. Tejumola Olaniyan and James Hoke Sweet. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2010. 193–212.
Works Cited:
Farah, Laila. "Dancing on the Hyphen: Performing Diasporic Subjectivity." Modern Drama, vol. 48 no. 2, 2005, p. 316-345. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mdr.2005.0025.
Mulekwa, Charles. Performing the Legacy of War in Uganda. Dissertation, Brown University, 2012.
Tilley, Elspeth. “Staging a ‘Plurality of Vision’: Diasporic Performance in Polycharacter Monodrama.” Modern Drama, vol. 55, no. 3, Oct. 2012, pp. 304–328, doi:10.1353/mdr.2012.0046.
"Uganda." UReach Toronto. 2014. Web. 2020. <https://www.ureachtoronto.ca/uganda/>.
"Welcome to the Uganda Canada Convention." Uganda Canada Convention. Web. 06 Dec. 2020.
Mulekwa discusses the reaction to a performance of Come Good Rain at Brown University wherein an exiled journalist from Gabon felt as though the play was about all African nations, terror, fear, violence, exile, and home (Mulekwa 241). This reaction to the performance as one that can spur recognition not just from former Ugandans but can open a dialogue to a much more diverse group of people. Toronto is an incredibly diverse city which hosts many immigrants and diasporas from other nations. Mulekwa suggests that the themes of this play are not only tied to members of the African diaspora but diasporic subjects of Yugoslavia and other countries that have seen civil war would likely appreciate this play (Mulekwa 241). Thus, we may want to consider reaching out to a number of diasporic communities to see this performance in Toronto.
Some Ugandan communities we may want to reach out to include Ureach Toronto as well as the Uganda Canadian Diaspora Business Expo (“Uganda”, “Welcome to”). These communities have outlets of reaching the Ugandan diaspora. Although this play is not meant specifically for an Ugandan audience, they may appreciate being invited to see the performance and might be able to engage in a lively post-show conversation. Whether or not they attend the performance we may consider including their information as a further resource for audience members. There are approximately 2000 Ugandans living in the Greater Toronto Area that may be interested in seeing the performance (“Uganda”). Ureach is in contact with African Canadian Online as well as a number of other diasporic communities thus I think it is likely that they would also be interested in our project (“Uganda”).
Further Readings to Explore (regarding Diaspora):
Brown, Benita, Dannabang Kuwabong, and Christopher Olsen. Myth Performance in the African Diasporas: Ritual, Theatre, and Dance. Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2014. Print.
Carlson, Marvin, The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001.
Edmondson, Laura. “Genocide Unbound: Erik Ehn, Rwanda, and an Aesthetics of Discomfort.” Theatre Journal, vol. 61, no. 1, 2009, pp. 65–83. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40211158. Accessed 23 Nov. 2020.
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin, White Masks.
Gilbert, Helen, and Jacqueline Lo. “Performing Hybridity in Post-Colonial Monodrama.” Journal of Commonwealth Literature 31.1 (1997): 5–19.
Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Theorizing Diaspora. Ed. Jana Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003. 233–46.
Harvie, Jennifer, and Richard Paul Knowles. “Dialogic Monologue: A Dialogue.” Theatre Research in Canada 15.2 (1994): 136–63.
Hirsch, Marianne, and Nancy K. Miller. Preface. Rites of Return: Diaspora Poetics and the Politics of Memory. New York: Columbia UP, 2011. xi–xiii.
Knowles, Ric. Theatre and Interculturalism. New York: Palgrave, 2010.
Richards, Sandra L. “Function at the Junction: African Diaspora Studies and Theatre Studies.” The African Diaspora and the Disciplines. Ed. Tejumola Olaniyan and James Hoke Sweet. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2010. 193–212.
Works Cited:
Farah, Laila. "Dancing on the Hyphen: Performing Diasporic Subjectivity." Modern Drama, vol. 48 no. 2, 2005, p. 316-345. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mdr.2005.0025.
Mulekwa, Charles. Performing the Legacy of War in Uganda. Dissertation, Brown University, 2012.
Tilley, Elspeth. “Staging a ‘Plurality of Vision’: Diasporic Performance in Polycharacter Monodrama.” Modern Drama, vol. 55, no. 3, Oct. 2012, pp. 304–328, doi:10.1353/mdr.2012.0046.
"Uganda." UReach Toronto. 2014. Web. 2020. <https://www.ureachtoronto.ca/uganda/>.
"Welcome to the Uganda Canada Convention." Uganda Canada Convention. Web. 06 Dec. 2020.
Possible Performance Space in Toronto
Streetcar Crowsnest
This theatre space could accommodate an alley stage which would allow audience members to engage in the performance while also witnessing the reactions of the audience on the other side of the aisle. This kind of space might be helpful in facilitating community especially during the talk-back so that audience members can engage in a better conversation. The play was produced by Crow’s in 1992 at Factory Theatre and then again at Canadian Stage (Seremba 11). Crow’s has not produced this work for their own space so they may be interested in reviving this work.
Works Cited:
"Streetcar Crowsnest." Home - Streetcar Crowsnest. 2020. Web. 06 Dec. 2020. <https://www.crowstheatre.com/>.
This theatre space could accommodate an alley stage which would allow audience members to engage in the performance while also witnessing the reactions of the audience on the other side of the aisle. This kind of space might be helpful in facilitating community especially during the talk-back so that audience members can engage in a better conversation. The play was produced by Crow’s in 1992 at Factory Theatre and then again at Canadian Stage (Seremba 11). Crow’s has not produced this work for their own space so they may be interested in reviving this work.
Works Cited:
"Streetcar Crowsnest." Home - Streetcar Crowsnest. 2020. Web. 06 Dec. 2020. <https://www.crowstheatre.com/>.