Alida Neslo with Zebra by Roddney Tjon Poen Gie in the Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo

(photo: Ada Korbee)

 

The immediate cause for DORO is the 175th anniversary of the Surinamese Theater Society Thalia (the oldest of its kind in the Caribbean). To celebrate this written by the Surinamese theater maker Alida Neslo.

The theme of DORO is freedom, a subject with which Alida Neslo was harshly confronted after her working period with juvenile delinquents. She invited a number of beginning and established composers to provide the music. The performing actors and singers come from Suriname, the Netherlands and Germany.

DORO is a contemporary, multilingual opera, based on situations that daily occur in Suriname. The style of music and acting is partly familiar, partly experimental, and an attempt to introduce other forms of theater to the Surinamese audience, besides the common popular theater, cabaret and musical. The idea of the Opera Fatu (pronounced in an 'Italian' fashion: 'fáááhtu') developed analogous to the way the Opera Buffa stemmed from the original Opera Seria in Italy under the influence of the Commedia Dell'Arte. DORO is a 'fatu' of 'opera': the opera fatu is performed 'tongue in cheek'.

DORO is staged on two fatu bangi's. The 'bangi' is a typical Surinamese phenomenon: a wooden bench, hastily put together from waste materials. You can find bangi's in most working-class areas in Suriname. The locals gather there in the late afternoon to tell fatu's (tall stories), discuss politics, sports and exchange gossip and other novelties about the neighbourhood. The phenomenon of the 'bangi' was first picked up by the Surinamese artist Roberto Tjon A Meeuw, who marketed the bench as a work of art under the name 'Fatu Bangi'.

DORO can be interpreted as an 'inquiry into-': a search with an objective that lies further on in time: an opera style, that fits the Surinamese performing artist like a glove. With respect to content, DORO is the dramatized deposit of a one-year project with juvenile delinquents (pupils) in the Santo Boma Penitentiary; youngsters who live in the shadow of topicality, but who have a right to be heard, not in the least in view of their re-socialization.

In DORO -subtitled 'The Price of Freedom'- a juvenile delinquent is released from prison. He's a first offender and has a problem to find his way back to the wider community. He's troubled by shame, doubt and low self-esteem. His family history is far from rosy: his mother is single, his father -who rejects him- a notorious alcoholic and a frequently arrested individual, whose sole interest it is to satisfy his own needs. The boy's pals, a chaplain (representative of the church), the boy's mother (who doesn't recognize him anymore) and a girl friend(student on work placement) he picked up on the internet, all try to help him out of his depressing situation. But none of them can really convince the Son, he just finds it hard to be free.

DORO is composed of 14 'Movements', inspired by the 14 Stations of the Cross of Jesus Christ. Each Movement corresponds with a psalm that served as a source of inspiration for the final text. The libretto is based on true facts and is composed of texts, written by the pupils during the one-year re-socialization project. Texts by biblical scholars like Ignatius of Loyola, phrases from the Stabat Mater and words by the West-african author/philosopher A. Hampate B were added later.

DORO incorporates influences from all Surinamese cultures: indigenous (sambura), Hindu (rhythm and language), Creole (lodge/freemasonry), winti, Christianity (language), Javanese (costumes, movement, language), Chinese (influences from Chinese opera, classical and modern), western, eastern, southern; just like the Caribbean community, which the author regards as the 'pilot community' of the world.

Alida Neslo

 

DORO SCENARIO / Complete libretto of the opera (only in Dutch)

Click here to download the scenario as a .PDF-file / file size: 364 KB / 28 pages / A4-size / © 2012, Alida Neslo/Thalia, Paramaribo