Nora’s Daughters (MZ)
The Mutumbela Gogo theatre ensemble from the capital of Mozambique, Maputo, is guesting the Festival with a contemporary piece that builds on Ibsen's A Doll's House.
Directed by Henning Mankell / Mutumbela Gogo
On the occasion of the 2006 Ibsen Year, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs organised a series of equality seminars entitled «Nora’s Sisters» at a number of embassies. These seminars are aimed at literary and theatrical circles, as well as those concerned with women’s politics and general social policy in the individual countries in question. One of the lecturers in Mozambique was the Swedish author, dramatist and director Henning Mankell. During the last twenty years he has spent a lot of time in Mozambique, where he has been working closely with the Mutumbela Gogo theatre ensemble in Maputo. «Nora’s Daughters» has been specially written for three of the actors in this esemble.
An African doll’s house
Mankell has been working with Mutumbela Gogo for 18-19 years and he has written and directed several pieces that highlight the life and position of women in Mozambique. In «Nora’s Daughters» we meet three young women at their mother’s grave. They have come together ten years after her death in order to hold a traditional ceremony. One of the women is a prostitute, one of them lives in extreme povety and the third is a farmer's wife living in the country. They represent three different destinies following in the wake of the rebellion initiated by women like Nora. During the course of the play they discover that they have more in common than they first thought or were prepared to admit, despite the fact that they have been affected in different ways by their mother's actions and her life.
Cast: Graça Silva, Isabel Jorge / Lucrécia Paco, Yolanda Fumo. Author and director: Henning Mankell. Producer and set design: Manuela Soiero.