To relax from the sometimes very exhausting rehearsal schedule, we had, perfectly fitting into the program, a few excursions referring to our topics drama and migration. On Thursday, the 6th of April, we were able to enjoy “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, a musical, or as they call it themselves, a “rock opera play”. It was very spectacular and full of special effects, referring to lights and music. The story was adopted from the Bible and therefore well known, but they enhanced with some modern aspects like the scan of bar codes for slavery. Also, it entertained us a lot. The actors were excellent and performed very well. The breaks with the play and interaction with the audience gave us a picture of actors who had fun with their passion. Also, the topic slightly referred to ours, because Joseph’s story is basically one of forced migration. Just four days later, we digested “Scenes from an Execution” from Howard Barker, a very interesting and mind thrilling play from a British author. It took the audience to the Golden Age of Venice, where one of the greatest victories should be banned on a wall. The paly tells the story of the painting, of the young revolutionary female artist, of the scandals and reviews and of the aftermath. Although it was a British play and therefore a very high level English, the main plot was quite easy to understand. The play gave us insight into the depths of human minds, which is also an important part of theatre. We were also delighted to see some of the historical sights of Cape town. At Wednesday 5th of April we went to the District Six Museum. It tells the story of forced removals of black and coloured citizens from Cape town to Townships. The visit was opened with the presentation of a contemporary witness, whose family was removed during this time. After the museum, we have seen District Six today, it is a great, plain area with hills of dirt and rubble. This monument shows the futility of the forced removals. Later on, we went on a boat trip to Robben Island. The former prison island is about 7km away from the main land and was mainly used during the Apartheid. On the island we had a guided tour through a prison section by a former prisoner. He showed us the everyday life in prison and the premises Nelson Mandela had to stay at for 27 years. A bus took us around the island and showed us important areas of it like the stone quarry, where Nelson Mandela and other prisoners were forced to do hard, unhealthy and most of the time useless work. After that we drove back to the main land by boat. The sea at the back trip was quite rough, so some of the students got sea sick. We learned a lot of the history of South Africa on this day, which is in some aspects very similar to Germany.
Written by Jonathan Specht
