June 2002
Truth commissioned by the heart of darkness
European colonial history on the black continent in the production "TRUTH" by Hans-Werner Kroesinger and Rob Moonen.
...-Let us try and establish this rule. I ask you questions and you answer them. Have you read the text and understood it? Is the answer "yes" ?
-Mr.Chairperson, may I just say the following? You do not impress me with what you say, you do not impress me at all. I answer, I am free, I have my own right in answering how I choose to.
-But I think if you just please bear in mind that we are now questioning you. If you could answer the question, it's a fairly simple question and if you just could listen and answer. Have you read it and understood it?
- Mr. Chairperson I have the right to say what I wish to say. Before I answer, I would like to say, what I want to say: I was a professional soldier from the South
African Defence Forces ...
(Transcription march 14-th 2000, Capetown , CCB-Amnesty-Hearing)
"TRUTH commissioned by the Heart of Darkness" takes documents from the Belgian colonial history and transcript from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commitee hearings and confronts this material with Joseph Conrads "Heart of Darkness" .
The Truth and Reconciliation Commitee deals with perpetrators and victims of the apartheid policy, above all with the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB), a special unit of the South African secret service, that committed bombings, torture interogations and the "permanent removal of society".
"Truth" is a play about men with a mission and how far they go to achieve their goals.
The stage incorperates the audience in an installation where news, fiction, documents and literature cross over.
"TRUTH commissioned by the heart of darkness"
Hans Werner Kroesinger/Rob Moonen
with Uwe Schmieder and Neal Wach
Text Reiner Groß
Research Regine Dura
Assistent director Anne Barth
Produktion manager Klaus Dörr
