'Métisse' -  © Kurt van der Elst
'Métisse' -  © Kurt van der Elst
'Métisse' -  © Kurt van der Elst
'Métisse' -  © Kurt van der Elst

Métisse

she always says
mom, I feel only half
and I tell her
you're not half
you're double
you're more than me

Métisse tells the story of a white grandmother (Christa), her double-blooded daughter (Christine), her white boyfriend (Werner) and her black granddaughter (Etouri). The four characters oscillate between family and history, between fiction and reality. They each deal with a permanent social problem in their own way: imaging about different skin colours, cultures and their intermingling. What part of their identity are they trying to get rid off? Which stereotypes do they set in motion, and which do they maintain?

Métisse is a tragicomic, musical performance on the existential question of 'double-blooded children' since the 1960s, when, as illegitimate citizens, they encountered massive misunderstandings - both in white Europe and in Black Africa. The source of inspiration for the performance is the story of Ann Van Vaerenberg, daughter of a black priest and a Belgian woman, and now herself a mother. Director Tom Dupont mixes the perspectives of three generations of women, each with a darker skin, and in doing so exposes a piece of the hidden past and present.

Credits

WRITER & DIRECTOR Tom Dupont ACTORS Kapinga Gysel, Patricia Kargbo, Lucas Van der Vegt, Katelijne Verbeke MUSIC COACH Sam Gysel SCENOGRAPHER Geert Vandewalle COSTUMER Marij Debrabandere VIDEO MAKER Peter Monsaert LIGHT DESIGNER Maarten Thorrez SOUND DESIGNER Niels Vanherpe ARTISTIC SUPPORT Chokri Ben Chikha, Zouzou Ben Chikha, Jos Verbist DRAMATURGY INTERN Alice De Waele PRODUCTION Theater Antigone & Action Zoo Humain COPRODUCTION Perpodium PARTNER NTGent WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO Ann Van Vaerenberg WITH SUPPORT OF the Belgian Taxshelter & Cronos Invest, the Flemish Literature Fund