©Dorothée Thébert Filliger, 2022
Vielleicht
An investigation in the Wedding district on the ghosts of colonisation in contemporary urban space.
Many people of African descent live today in the “Afrikanisches Viertel”, a neighbourhood in Berlin. But three of its streets are named after German colonisers whose names carry sinister connotations. Cédric Djedje, a Genevan actor of Ivorian origin, investigates the ambiguities of colonial memory. The result is a show that is part autobiography, part testimony, part fiction… with the strange feeling of having been drawn into an abyssal rift in history. What will happen when the names of these streets change?
The African Quarter, a district whose name was given to glorify German colonialism and its claim to territorial power in Africa. What's more, several street names are still dedicated to the perpetrators of German colonial crimes in South West Africa, including Carl Peters, once feared as "Hanging Peters" even by German colonial officials. Cédric Djedje goes in search of clues in the African Quarter. On the one hand he comes across activists of a postcolonial resistance who have been trying for over forty years to get the street names changed. On the other hand, he encounters an everyday racism that is only laboriously concealed, to which Djedje, himself an Afro-European, is repeatedly exposed in his work and in his private life in Berlin. Between political documentary theater and humorous auto-fiction, Cédric Djedje creates an urban chronicle in scenic form in a duo with his co-star Safi Martin Yé: a foray between expedition and ghost train ride that holds up a mirror to Berlin from the outside perspective. Only a few weeks after the premiere of the play in Geneva in November 2022, the first two streets in Berlin's African Quarter were renamed - with great attention from the international press, but largely unnoticed by the German public. On the other hand, an avenue named after colonial criminal Carl Peters on Adolf Hitler’s personal initiative keeps its name, with the official argument that it was “redesignated” from Petersallee to Petersallee in the 1980s (and is now supposed to honor a Berlin city councilman named Peters). . Similar relics of colonialism can also be found outside of Wedding and Berlin. Is there a chance to change that in the near future? The undecided answer is already indicated by the title of the piece: Maybe. Similar relics of colonialism can also be found outside of Wedding and Berlin. Is there a chance to change that in the near future? The undecided answer is already indicated by the title of the piece: Maybe. Similar relics of colonialism can also be found outside of Wedding and Berlin. Is there a chance to change that in the near future? The undecided answer is already indicated by the title of the piece: Maybe.
Many people of African descent live today in the “Afrikanisches Viertel”, a neighbourhood in Berlin. But three of its streets are named after German colonisers whose names carry sinister connotations. Cédric Djedje, a Genevan actor of Ivorian origin, investigates the ambiguities of colonial memory. The result is a show that is part autobiography, part testimony, part fiction… with the strange feeling of having been drawn into an abyssal rift in history. What will happen when the names of these streets change?
The African Quarter, a district whose name was given to glorify German colonialism and its claim to territorial power in Africa. What's more, several street names are still dedicated to the perpetrators of German colonial crimes in South West Africa, including Carl Peters, once feared as "Hanging Peters" even by German colonial officials. Cédric Djedje goes in search of clues in the African Quarter. On the one hand he comes across activists of a postcolonial resistance who have been trying for over forty years to get the street names changed. On the other hand, he encounters an everyday racism that is only laboriously concealed, to which Djedje, himself an Afro-European, is repeatedly exposed in his work and in his private life in Berlin. Between political documentary theater and humorous auto-fiction, Cédric Djedje creates an urban chronicle in scenic form in a duo with his co-star Safi Martin Yé: a foray between expedition and ghost train ride that holds up a mirror to Berlin from the outside perspective. Only a few weeks after the premiere of the play in Geneva in November 2022, the first two streets in Berlin's African Quarter were renamed - with great attention from the international press, but largely unnoticed by the German public. On the other hand, an avenue named after colonial criminal Carl Peters on Adolf Hitler’s personal initiative keeps its name, with the official argument that it was “redesignated” from Petersallee to Petersallee in the 1980s (and is now supposed to honor a Berlin city councilman named Peters). . Similar relics of colonialism can also be found outside of Wedding and Berlin. Is there a chance to change that in the near future? The undecided answer is already indicated by the title of the piece: Maybe. Similar relics of colonialism can also be found outside of Wedding and Berlin. Is there a chance to change that in the near future? The undecided answer is already indicated by the title of the piece: Maybe. Similar relics of colonialism can also be found outside of Wedding and Berlin. Is there a chance to change that in the near future? The undecided answer is already indicated by the title of the piece: Maybe.
With: Cédric Djedje, Safi Martin Ye
Concept: Cedric Djedje
Dramaturgy: Noémi Michel
Advice Director: Diane Muller, Ludovic Chazaud
Text: Ludovic Chazaud, Noémi Michel
Stage Design / Scenography: Anguezomo Mba Bikoro
Advice Equipment: Marco IevoliBuilding: Atelier de construction du Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
Choreography : Ivan LarsonMusic
Sound Design: Ka(ra)mi
Costumes / Khanga's Confections: Tara Mabiala
Confections: Eva MichelGraphics: Claudia Ndebele
Light: Léo Garcia
Artistic Collaboration / Technical Direction: Joana Oliveira
Video: Valeria Stucki
Makeup: Chaïm Vischel
Production Direction: Lionel Perrinjaquet, Pauline Coppée (Tutu Production)
Transcription of the interviews: Eva Michel, Bel Kerkhoff-Parnell, Orfeo, Janyce Djedje
Head of video and sound: Sebastien Baudet
Head of light: Leo Garcia
Directorship: Joana Oliveira
Production:Absent.e pour le moment, Le Grütli – Center de production et de diffusion des Arts Vivants, Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne
Tour management: Pauline Coppée
Concept: Cedric Djedje
Dramaturgy: Noémi Michel
Advice Director: Diane Muller, Ludovic Chazaud
Text: Ludovic Chazaud, Noémi Michel
Stage Design / Scenography: Anguezomo Mba Bikoro
Advice Equipment: Marco IevoliBuilding: Atelier de construction du Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
Choreography : Ivan LarsonMusic
Sound Design: Ka(ra)mi
Costumes / Khanga's Confections: Tara Mabiala
Confections: Eva MichelGraphics: Claudia Ndebele
Light: Léo Garcia
Artistic Collaboration / Technical Direction: Joana Oliveira
Video: Valeria Stucki
Makeup: Chaïm Vischel
Production Direction: Lionel Perrinjaquet, Pauline Coppée (Tutu Production)
Transcription of the interviews: Eva Michel, Bel Kerkhoff-Parnell, Orfeo, Janyce Djedje
Head of video and sound: Sebastien Baudet
Head of light: Leo Garcia
Directorship: Joana Oliveira
Production:Absent.e pour le moment, Le Grütli – Center de production et de diffusion des Arts Vivants, Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne
Tour management: Pauline Coppée