–
I chose this woman as my friend.
We have two feasts with both our husbands,
killing sheep and dancing and singing,
gifts and guests, just like a wedding.
–
A woman of ninetyseven says
–
Haven’t you ever fallen in love with another girl?
–
In Lesotho
a woman says
–
In Lesotho
women like to kiss each other.
And it’s nothing. Except sometimes.
–
Somebody says in Burkina Faso
–
Gender is not the same as anatomy.
The earth is very delicate machinery
with high vibration points,
and some people must be the guardians
to keep the continuity
with the spirits of this world and the other.
The one who binds the spirits is the gatekeeper.
His vibrational consciousness is far higher
and that makes him gay.
You don’t get chosen,
you choose it yourself before you’re born.
You come into the world with that vibration
and the Elders know you’re connected to a gateway.
–
English law.
–
English law says 1533
–
Forasmuch as there is not yet sufficient
and condign punishment
for the detestable and abominable
vice of buggery,
it may please the King’s Highness
with the assent of the Lords Spiritual
and the Commons of this present Parliament
that the same offence be henceforth judged a felony.
–
Hang them.
–
Somebody says
–
Englishman in Angola
sixteenth century
–
They are beastly in their living
for they have men in women’s apparel
whom they keep among their wives.
–
A missionary says
–
Seventeenth century
–
Sodomy is rampant in the south of Angola.
–
Missionaries, missionaries
–
Unnatural damnation
–
Detestable vices
–
Forsaking the natural use of women
–
Copulation contre nature.
–
Seventeenth century
–
Father Cavazzi
–
in the Congo as a missionary.
–
The Ganga-ya-Chibanda
is the most powerful Ganga.
He dresses like a woman
and is called the Grandmother.
He dresses
for sacrifices
in the skin
of a lion.
He has bells to call the gods of peace
and spirits of the dead.
He kills a snake,
a dog and a cock,
they bury the dog’s head.
And the spirits show him where to find it.
Of course it’s a trick,
he’s told where to find it.
When he dies
he’s buried in the forest
with such indecent ceremonies
the page would blush, so I can’t write it.
They pull out his heart and liver
and hack off his toes and fingers
and sell them as relics.
And the colonial governor
can do nothing at all without the help of the Ganga.
–
Father Cavazzi writes
–
This information is for the missionaries
consecrated to the people’s instruction.
Somewhat fruitless up to now.
–
Somebody says
–
Italian explorer 1900
–
Men in Eritrea
sleep with little devils.
No one thinks it’s evil.
Diavoletti.
–
Somebody says
–
German anthropologist 1923
–
Homosexual intercourse
from Orange to the Congo.
It’s generally widespread.
–
The laws against sodomy
were imported to the colonies.
Repealed in Britain
but thriving in the colonies.
Thriving in the countries
that used to be colonies.
–
We try them in the courts.
–
They had connection
–
fundamental orifice
–
obtained his purpose.
–
I was only playing.
–
Beating your wife
–
(She ends up dead)
–
Three months in prison.
Emitting semen on another man’s legs
Six months in prison.
–
Somebody says
–
Ovambo chief
–
I know it is forbidden.
I shoot them with my Browning.
–
Museveni says
–
President of Uganda. 2014
–
This Act that we have passed
shows our independence
independence in the face of western pressure.
–
We have our own culture.
–
We will fight these vermins.
–
They are beasts of the forest
–
Mad people and criminals
–
Hand them over to the police
–
You cannot have a right to be a sick human being
–
Homosexuality will destroy humanity
because there’s no procreation
–
There is no right in homosexuality
–
It is sub-animal behaviour, we will not allow it
–
If they don’t like it they can leave
–
It is unAfrican because it is inconsistent with
African values of procreation and belief in the clan
–
It is unnatural behaviour and strange to our culture.
–
Somebody says
–
Winnie Mandela
–
It is alien to our culture. It is filth.
–
Somebody says
–
American evangelists
–
We’re losing America.
–
We’re winning in Africa.
–
American evangelist
–
Gays are the agents
of America’s moral decline.
The force behind Nazi atrocities.
If they could get away with killing
anyone opposed to them like yours truly,
they’d do it.
They have the media, academia,
Hollywood, big corporations,
mental health associations,
even the US military.
Uganda can be a country led by God.
–
American evangelist goes to Kampala, says
–
Homosexuals have a hidden and dark agenda.
Evil.
They t
hreaten the marriage based society.
–
Ugandan legislator says
at a Family Breakfast
–
(this is a secret Christian organisation,
American organisation)
–
Let’s consider execution.
–
American evangelist says
–
We’re not involved in US politics
much less in the politics of another nation.
I don’t support the death penalty
but I support the Bill.
I support the stand against evil.
Winning in Africa.
–
We have our own culture.
–
Somebody says, somebody says
–
Either is equally good and beautiful.
–
I didn’t know it was a crime.
–
Dogs do it, giraffes do it, flamingoes
–
If I wanted to have a woman I can get plenty.
–
I never noticed anything peculiar, he worked as a nurse, I thought him sound in his mind.
–
Why should we worry since we can’t get pregnant?
–
Just staying together nicely.
–
People now don’t love like they did long ago.
–
I was welcomed by his family.
–
We loved them better.
–
Somebody says
–
a Khoikhoi man
–
I wanted him so I gave him a cup of Sore-water.
Nice when it’s coffee but water will do.
I said Sore-gansa-are!
Drink the Sore-water!
And he took it in his hands and drank it
which means Yes.
–
It’s wasa, play.
–
It’s iskanci, craziness.
–
Sometimes for all our lives.
WAR AND PEACE GAZA PIECE
War and Peace Gaza Piece was first read at the launch event of a project called War and Peace: Gaza (Palestine) – London (UK) Tolstoy’s novel as theatre at Rich Mix, London, on 14 September 2014. The project was part of the ten-year partnership (2009–2019) between Az Theatre (London) and Theatre for Everybody (Gaza) called Gaza Drama Long Term. The cast was as follows:
NARRATOR
Harriet Walter
MARIA
Anna Capper
FATHER
David Calder
LISA
Elsa Mullien
PIERRE
Joe Kloska
BABY
Tom Clark
Director
Jonathan Chadwick
NARRATOR
Maria Bolkonskaya is a young Russian girl and she is doing mathematics. Her father, the Old Prince, likes to watch.
MARIA
If the angle ABC is ninety degrees then the square on AC is equal to the sum of the squares on AB and BC.
FATHER
Can you prove it?
MARIA
Yes but I didn’t figure it out myself, it’s Pythagoras, don’t you remember how to prove it?
FATHER
I’m not sure I do, can you show me?
NARRATOR
Lisa Bolkonskaya, his daughter-in-law, is sitting by the window.
LISA
What are my friends doing now in St Petersburg? Andrei loves his father and sister of course and I was glad to see them the first day but it goes on and on and this should be a specially nice time for me because I’m going to have a baby. What’s Andrei doing now? Is the war really happening? Is he in a battle? What is that, really, a battle, what happens in it, how do they do it? Nobody tells me.
NARRATOR
Andrei’s looking forward to a battle. He’s having a drink tonight with his friend Pierre. He leaves in the morning.
ANDREI
A glorious war.
PIERRE
I don’t know what you get out of it.
ANDREI
I’ll be fighting Napoleon. What do you get out of peace?
NARRATOR
And Maria says
MARIA
The angles – what’s that noise?
FATHER
Just thunder, let’s close the window.
MARIA
It’s getting nearer.
NARRATOR
And Lisa says
LISA
I’ve a stomach ache. I wonder if I ate something. It’s better now. No, it’s not. Oh, I wonder.
NARRATOR
And Andrei says
ANDREI
War’s very loud.
NARRATOR
And Pierre says
PIERRE
Freedom.
NARRATOR
And Maria says
MARIA
I can’t concentrate.
FATHER
Just start again and pay attention.
MARIA
I can’t with all the noise. I’m frightened.
NARRATOR
And Lisa says
LISA
It hurts. I’m frightened. I want Andrei.
NARRATOR
And Andrei says
ANDREI
They just keep bombing.
NARRATOR
And Pierre says
PIERRE
What’s happening?
NARRATOR
And Maria says
MARIA
I can’t study any more.
FATHER
Don’t sleep by the window, let’s move your bed.
NARRATOR
And Lisa says
LISA
Why are they bombing while I’m having a baby?
NARRATOR
And Maria says
MARIA
Hold my hand.
NARRATOR
And the Old Prince says
FATHER
The baby’s alive.
NARRATOR
And Andrei says
ANDREI
I’m lying on the ground looking at the sky.
NARRATOR
And Maria says
MARIA
Lisa’s baby’s alive but did you see them next door carrying their baby out?
NARRATOR
And the Old Prince says
FATHER
Andrei’s disappeared. Nobody knows where he is. They haven’t found his body.
NARRATOR
And Pierre says
PIERRE
Is there no news of Andrei?
NARRATOR
And Maria says
MARIA
Father.
NARRATOR
And the Old Prince says
FATHER
My palace is in ruins. There’s nothing but rubble further than I can walk.
NARRATOR
And Lisa says
LISA
I never saw the baby.
NARRATOR
And Maria says
MARIA
I’ve no books any more.
NARRATOR
And Andrei says
ANDREI
Plays 5 Page 12
