‘AT HER FEET’ OPENS AT BAXTER
ORIGINALLY written in 2002, At
Her Feet belongs as much to writer and director Nadia Davids as it does to actress Quanita Adams. Both are Cape Town Muslim women, and in their powerful evocation of six Muslim women, the play touches on the diverse lives of a secular student, a tough-talking “auntie”, a militant Che Guevara-worshipping slam poetess, and a recently married religious travel agent.
It will be staged at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio next week, marking the last time Adams will be performing in it as she turns her focus on other commitments.
A landmark production, the play is studied at South African, British and US schools and universities.
It is regarded as one of the most important theatre pieces focusing on Islamophobia, Muslim women and Islamic feminism post 9/11 – and is one of South Africa’s most significant post-apartheid works. The masterful play has won the two women Fleur du Caps for best director and best actress and been nominated for a Noma and Naledi award.
Fifteen years down the line, the play has grown and evolved. It’s travelled throughout southern Africa and has been staged in New York, London and Holland.
But as the talented Davids and Adams admit, on its deepest level, the play essentially is best at home in the Cape Town it portrays and its women.
Speaking of how it came about all those years ago, Adams says: “Nadia and I saw it as an incredible opportunity, both being Muslim to unpack what it is to be Muslim women in Cape Town, the continent and abroad after the events of 9/11.”
Says Davids, “It gave Quanita and I our first real home in theatre; a place to tell our stories, to see ourselves accurately reflected, to feel directly addressed and seen. The play allowed us to declare loyalties and question allegiances... It was a profound experience to make the work together back in 2002 and it’s a wonderful feeling to be able to bring it home after all these years, to reconnect it with its original audience and to introduce it to a new generation of theatre-goers.”
Adams adds, “Each of the characters portrayed have deeply rich backgrounds despite their archetypal representations.
“For example, the evocation of the Afro-urban terrorist is incredibly moving – having been hurt; whereas the ‘auntie’ is masking a pain of an entirely different sort. We get to understand what makes them tick.”
Adams is one of the most acclaimed and awarded actresses in the country whose theatre work has been staged throughout Africa, in Europe and the US. She has
appeared in films like Forgiveness and Skeem, and television credits include Pasella, the BBC’s Holby City, and Binnelanders.
But she is still humbled by her performance in this remarkable play. “I am incredibly privileged to perform in it. Today, it might seem quite ordinary but 16 years ago, the fact that the play was written, directed and performed by Muslim women was quite extraordinary. It was a really bold thing to do.!”
Adams relates that Davids wrote the play in three weeks. “There was an urgency and flurry to conjure up in these visions.”
When it was originally performed, she says, people from diverse backgrounds came to see the play – including an old Xhosa man who was visibly touched by the breaking down of perceptions.
“We were articulating at the time our marginalised community through this powerful text.”
Says Davids, “At Her Feet was born… in those turbulent months after the terrible attacks on New York City. I wrote the play as a response to the ways in which Muslim women were being portrayed. I wanted to make a piece of art that reflected my experience of growing up Muslim in Cape Town – the ordinariness of it, the love, the joys, the difficulties, the complexities and to write about the women I knew. None of whom were being reflected in these veiled, mysterious figures.
“Essentially,” says Adams, “the play is speaking of the danger of assumptions and generalisations.” ■ At Her Feet runs at the Baxter Golden Arrow Studio from November 22 to December 8 at 8.15pm, with matinees on Saturdays at 3pm. Booking through Webtickets on 086 111 0005, online at www. webtickets.co.za or from selected Pick n Pay stores.