On a still, cool day in the east of a city by the sea, three sounds only: a bulldozer’s engine, a forgotten song, a canon that tells the time.
WHAT REMAINS
On a still, cool day in the east of a city by the sea, three sounds only: a bulldozer’s engine, a forgotten song, a canon that tells the time. Behind the bulldozer, a sign: Luxury Mall Coming Soon. As the vehicle moves in to clear ground, it strikes at something unexpected…
What Remains is a captivating fusion of text, dance and movement to tell a story about an unexpected uncovering of a slave burial ground in Cape Town, the archaeological dig that follows and a city haunted by the memory of slavery. When the bones emerge from the ground everyone in the city – slave decedents, archaeologists, citizens, property developers - are forced to reckon with a history sometimes remembered, sometimes forgotten.
Loosely based on the events at Prestwich Place, What Remains, is a journey through memory and magic, of the uncanny and the known, between waking and dreaming, and of paintings and protests. Four figures -The Archaeologist, The Healer, The Dancer and The Student - move between bones and books, archives and madness, as they try to reconcile the past with the now.
What Remains, directed by Jay Pather, debuted at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival in 2017 to sold out audiences and five star reviews. It went on to an equally warm reception in Cape Town and appeared at the Afrovibes Festival in the Netherlands. What Remains was nominated for 7 Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards and won 5 of them: Best New South African Script, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Lighting Designer and Best Ensemble.
WINNER
“BEST NEW SOUTH AFRICAN SCRIPT”
“BEST DIRECTOR”
“BEST ACTRESS”
“BEST LIGHTING”
“BEST ENSEMBLE”
WINNER
of the oliver Schreiner award for Drama
“Here then is a new spell-binder in contemporary South African theatre. Nadia Davids’ What Remains fuses incident, character, text and physical theatre to present a profound metaphor of the country’s ongoing struggle to reconcile its troubled past with an imagined future. What we have here is a profound piece of creative writing that demonstrates an unequivocal and deliberate effort to tear the form book as it breaks new ground through extensive research, effort and a depth of thinking about issues which is second to none.”
- From the Judges
Cape Times
“A beautiful masterpiece”
Die Burger, 2017
“5 stars”
Weekend Special
“Nadia Davids’ new work ‘What Remains’ is an impressive, if disquieting and heart -breaking piece”
Daily Maverick