There’s a wealth of research that shines through Placeholder, presented by Fronteiras Theatre Lab in association with the Colonial-Era Caribbean Theatre and Opera Network at Dundee Fringe.
A well-crafted, nuanced and moving work, tightly directed
Written and performed by Catherine Bisset, with dramaturgy by Jaïrus Obayomi, choreography by Yamil Cuedo Herrera and directed by Flavia D’Avila, the team took on the challenge of creating a piece that, in D’Avila’s words, ‘would communicate scholarly work to a non-specialist audience but would also be enjoyable’. The company studied historical accounts of theatre and opera performances in Jamaica and the former French colony (1697 to 1804) of St Domingue (now mostly Haiti). In news sheets they found advertisements for runaway slaves next to those for shows. Those two worlds would intersect when wealthy slave owners who wished to attend the theatre sent a servant to reserve their seat; a placeholder who was dismissed once the patrons arrived.
In the same period they discovered Minette, an opera singer and a placeholder whose story is elaborated in the play to become ‘a metaphor for the Haitian Revolution’. She is a free woman, but Creole, and in the highly stratified colonial society of the day, that positioned her between the ruling whites and the enslaved blacks, belonging to neither and looked down upon by both. Discovering Minette meant there was an opportunity to redress the imbalance prevalent in the narrative of slavery by telling the story of a highly talented non-white person. Initially trained by her mother, Minette and her sister were discovered by Madame Acquaire, an influential actress and opera singer of the Comédie de Port-au-Prince who took up their tuition.
Although a solo show, Bisset through her writing and performance vividly creates two characters steeped in the period, while also exploring the impact of the composer/conductor Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, another biracial free man of colour. The dialogue between mother and daughter flows effortlessly and gracefully between the two, deploying appropriate accents and voices while providing insights into the age and the struggles of people against colonial occupation and making clear the enormous courage and determination required to stand up to tyranny and fight against the odds in the pursuit of recognition individually and collectively.
Placeholder is a well-crafted, nuanced and moving work, tightly directed with focus on its central themes yet not afraid to deploy movement and dance as a further expression of the emotional content. It is a rare breath of fresh air in contemporary theatre that illustrates the wealth of under-used historical material that is out there waiting to be explored.
