Conceived as an opera, Nehanda investigates the myth of Nehanda, a powerful spirit, venerated by the Shona people, who only inhabits women. In the late 19th century, Nehanda’s medium was Charwe Nyakasikana, a heroic revolutionary leader, who orchestrated the first uprisings in British-occupied Southern Rhodesia in 1896–97. Together with four comrades she was captured and, after an expedited and unjust trial, was executed by the British colonizers who were so scared that they ordered her bones and skull to be sent to the U.K. Nehanda offers a legal and philosophical defense for the first heroes of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. The libretto is based on the infamous court case, The Queen vs. Nehanda (1898), between two sovereigns: Nehanda—mhondoro— “lion spirit” and Queen Victoria, whose long and glorified reign witnessed the rise and extension of the British empire across the world. This event will present one completed scene from the longer opera. The performance is designed as an immersive, participatory and durational spectacle where participants can collectively perform and investigate the process of law-making and its crucial role in the European colonial project.
New York City, NY; NYC