The Bantu Chanting Warrior strikes again

Jacques Mushaandja, Theatre Maker, Storyteller, Vocalist and Performer showcased his one-man play ‘Aluta’s Children’ this week Monday at the College of the Arts Theatre School.
 “The aim of the play is to encourage dialogue with the audience to discuss and share experiences”, said Mushaandja.
Aluta’sChildren is mainly about the “struggle children” and how they coped with exile and repatriation.
The play then looks at the struggles they are still going through in this present day independent Namibia.
Mushaandja said that everyone goes through their own struggles, may it be the aftermath of the liberation struggle, economical struggle or day to day struggles of existence, therefore he is not aiming to send a message, but he wants people to interact and be part of his shows.
Before the audience entered the venue they were each given a stick of chalk. The aim of this was to write anything they wished to before, during and after the show. During the show Mushaandja asked the audience two questions. What do you struggle with/for?, and, What is struggle in your language?

He got different answers ranging from love and life to forgetting and money. Some people answered, not only in Namibian languages but other African languages and European languages as well.
“Aluta’s Children can be interpreted in many different ways depending on the experiences an individual has been through. Struggle children will interpret it differently from bornfrees, which is OK as long as it makes them think”, said Mushaandja.
He said he was pleased with the outturn of the people who came to watch the show and how they were not intimidated or scared to participate. The complete and second run of Aluta’s Children will be staged in October and it might be completely different and he might even chose not to keep it a one-man show. It all depends where his creativity takes him said Mushaandja.