1894 Concept for an opera in three acts 2008-2012

Concept / visuals / costumes:   Hentie van der Merwe

Director: Jaco Bouwer

Music: Braam du Toit / Neo Muyanga

Libretto: Henning Pieterse

A music-theatre performance which incorporates sung and performed music together with digitally created sound environments, theatre and movement, projected film-sequences and the use of props and costumes. The aim is to make an exhilarating and challenging piece using contemporary artistic practice, while exploring regional archives to do with Namibian colonial history.

Characters:

Hare (narrator) – Soprano/Mezzo

Captain Hendrik Witbooi, Nama Captain – Baritone/Bass

Major Theodor Leutwein, Governor of German Southwest-Africa – Baritone

Vicky, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Daughter of Queen Victoria - Soprano 

Kaiser Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany – movement/dancer

This opera pays homage to Hendrik Witbooi, a towering figure in Namibian history celebrated for his intellect, political vision, and early anti-colonial resistance. Regarded as one of Africa's first Pan-Africanist thinkers, Witbooi forms the intellectual and emotional core of the production.

The narrative centers on the 1894 correspondence between Witbooi, leader of the Witbooi Namas, and Major Theodor Leutwein, Governor (Landeshauptmann) of German South-West Africa (present-day Namibia). Tasked with establishing German control, Leutwein used a small military force (Schutztruppen) to press local leaders into signing "Protection Treaties." While most indigenous leaders complied, Witbooi refused. Written during a standoff in the Naukluft Mountains, their letters debate Witbooi’s resistance to surrendering his sovereignty.

This exchange provides a rare written record of an African leader actively critiquing and contesting European colonization in real time. Beyond its historical significance, the dialogue reveals a nuanced relationship marked by mutual respect, strategic fluency, and a personal rapport. While Witbooi presented himself as an innocent leader defending his native territory, his history was complex. As leader of the Oorlam Namas—who had migrated from the Cape armed with European rifles—Witbooi had previously subjugated other local indigenous groups, such as the Berg-Damara, appropriating land and taking captives.

In 1894, this political confrontation is set against the rich oral tradition of Nama folktales, particularly those featuring the clever Hare trickster figure. Sourced from an extensive late-20th-century audio archive recorded by German folklorist Sigrid Schmidt - who granted me full access - these tales are integrated into the libretto and sampled within soundscapes composed by Braam du Toit and Neo Muyanga.

Finally, the opera incorporates a third archival layer: correspondence between Kaiser Wilhelm II and his mother, Empress Victoria (daughter of Britain's Queen Victoria). This material links German imperial expansion to Wilhelm II’s personal trauma and bodily anxieties. Born with a paralyzed left arm and nerve damage from a traumatic birth, Wilhelm suffered emotional rejection from his mother, who disdained his impairment. As Sigmund Freud observed, Wilhelm never forgave this abandonment, harbouring a lifelong resentment toward his mother and Great Britain. Annexing Namibia—situated directly north of British South Africa—served as a vehicle for the Kaiser to assert his compromised masculinity, claim German imperial status, and block further British expansion in southern Africa.

Cape Town, 2012