Krotoa, Eva van de Kaap

Dutch actor and singer Kees Scholten and a South African actress Bianca Flanders in Krotoa. Picture: Jochem Jurgens
The Artscape in association with the Dutch theatre collective, the Volksoperahuis, presents Krotoa, Eva van de Kaap.

The production was first performed to acclaim in The Netherlands in October 2018. February marks Black History Month in many countries and 2019 is the UN’s International Year of Indigenous Languages which makes this production all the more significant and hugely relevant in South Africa today.

Set in present day South Africa, a Dutch actor and singer (Kees Scholten) and a South African actress (Bianca Flanders – Blood Brothers, Orpheus in Africa, Shakespeare in Love) meet on the film set of  Krotoa, Eva van de Kaap. He takes the role of Jan van Riebeeck, the VOC merchant commander who established a refreshment station at the Cape in 1652. 

She plays Krotoa, the young Khoe girl taken into van Riebeeck’s household who went on to become a key negotiator and translator between the Dutch and the local people at a very young age. The first Khoe woman to be baptised and the first to officially marry a European, Krotoa was emotionally battered by the clash of two cultures. The two actors are not unscathed as they enter a whirlwind of confrontations during their creative process and even in their own world where Krotoa’s story shakes them up. An inevitable dramatic conclusion is set in motion.

Krotoa, Eva van de Kaap is at the Artscape Arena from Thursday February 7 to Saturday February 16.

Tuesday to Friday it’s on at 7:30pm and on Saturdays at 3:00pm and 7:30pm with tickets costing R100 and booking through Computicket or 0214217695.