How free are you to be free? The answer to that question is different for everyone. The site specific performance Free to be Free is about freedom and resistance and can be seen in Curaçao between August 20 and 24, 2024. Sites of Memory produces the performance together with Teatro KadaKen and Monqui Maduro Library in Curaçao.

 

After successful performances of this Sites of Memory production in Amersfoort, Deventer, Utrecht and Amsterdam, the performance is being further developed by the partners and makers into a production in which stories from Curaçao are centralized. In addition, they are organizing a theatrical discussion program at Mongui Maduro Library on August 25, where the makers and historians will go into conversation with each other and share scenes from the performance.

 

The production Free to be Free is a site specific performance. The audience is taken along the stories and places connected to colonial history in Punda. With dance, theater, poetry and music, previously underrepresented stories come to life. We follow a theatrical route starting in the Fort Church, where the makers investigate the role of institutions in the colonial and slavery past. We then move via the Court of Justice to the final location where interaction with nature and the open sea is central.

 

Free to be Free was specially developed in the context of the commemorative year of the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands and its (former) colonies in 1863/1873. The impact of this past is still palpable for many. Many people deal with institutional racism every day. Processes of healing and conversations about repair are not completed. As long as racism and exclusion, arising from colonial thinking and the past of slavery, are not structurally addressed, the question is relevant: freedom, for whom? What have the freedom fighters of the past given us? And those who fight for freedom today? What do we know about oppression and resistance against it?

 

Suitable for audiences aged 12+

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Performance dates

Wednesday, August 21, 7:00 PM (followed by a discussion) 

Thursday, August 22, 7:00 PM (with a discussion afterwards) 

Friday, August 23, 7:00 PM

Saturday, August 24, 7:00 PM  ​

 

Theatrical conversation program

Sunday, August 25, 5:00 PM at Mongui Maduro Library  ​

 

TICKETS

Tickets are available through Mensings Caminada, Sentro di pago Tu y Yo and online at Caribbean Ticketshop.com. 

 

More info ​

Reserve a press ticket or ask your questions by emailing info@teatrokadaken.org​ ​​​​

 

START LOCATION - FORT CHURCH, PUNDA ​​

 

Practical

The performance lasts 1 hour 15 minutes. It is a multilingual performance with fragments in Papiamento, English, Dutch and Sranantongo. The performance involves a short walk, so please take suitable footwear and clothing into account. Drinks are available (only available with PIN).

 

Accessibility

Do you have difficulty walking or do you need a chair for outdoor locations? Please contact Sites of Memory (info@teatrokadaken.org) so they can assist you. ​ ​​

 

Past performances 2023:​

Amsterdam, De Waalse Kerk, Walenpleintje 159 (Tue 25 - Sat 29 June)

Amersfoort, Flint, Sint Aegtenkapel (Fri June 16 - Sun June 18) 

Deventer, Festival Deventer on Stilts (Sat July 8 - Sun July 9) 

Utrecht, Museum Speelklok / Stadsschouwburg Utrecht (Sat October 7 - Sat October 14)

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