The Middle Passage: A Ritual of Healing

The Middle Passage: A Ritual of Healing is a play by Fatima Dike (1948-)

The original text

A joint project developed by playwright Fatima Dike with students and faculty from the University of Cape Town and the University of Louisville in the USA, the play opened at the 2003 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. The play deals with the impact of the slave trade's disruption of families, as told from African and African American perspectives

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

2003: Premiered at the Grahamstown Festival and the Little Theatre, University of Cape Town, South Africa. Directed by Nefertiti Burton and Dumile Magodia, designed by Kathy A. Perkins

2004: Had its U.S. Premiere on 21 April 21 in Thrust Theater, University of Louisville, once more directed by Nefertiti Burton and Dumile Magodia, with designs by Kathy A. Perkins.

2004: A short filmed version of the production was shown at the Gorée Institute in Dakar on 23 August, as part of the United Nations' International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. The play's designer Kathy A. Perkins served on the discussion panel on this occasion.

Sources

D.C. Boonzaier, 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1932. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.203-205

Go to ESAT Bibliography