Award-winning actress Bo Petersen (pictured left) returns to the Cape Town stage in her first full run in seven years at the Baxter this July, with her internationally acclaimed autobiographical work Pieces of Me. It will be will be performed at the Baxter Studio from 10 July until 27 July 2024.
Presented by ASSITEJ SA, Pieces of Me is written and performed by Bo Petersen, with music by Chris Petersen, who was one of the founders of The Jazz Yard Academy in Bonteheuwel. The production is directed by actor, musician and director, Royston Stoffels.
Pieces of Me is a profoundly moving personal story of the unspoken histories that many people carry within them. An exploration of family secrets, with resonances that still echo today. It explores questions about identity: “Who are you, if you can no longer be who you are?”
Bo Petersen grew up in a white family in Apartheid South Africa. When she was 19 she uncovered her father’s secret. He was not white and had married the love of his life, who was white. From the age of 28 he lived as a white man. When Bo found out about her father’s hidden life, his secret, nearly 40 years ago, her life changed in a profound way. She became the custodian of his secret. She began writing “pieces” as a way of trying to understand her father, his “passing” and in turn, her “passing”. They were collaborators in their knowledge and silence.
Kickstart conversations
What began as a solo show has now excitingly been expanded, with Bo’s cousin, musician Christopher Petersen, joining her on stage. This is a wonderful opportunity for Cape audiences to catch Bo before she returns to the USA.
“With Pieces of Me I want to kickstart conversations about identity, history and race amongst South African young people, and to build empathy and understanding of the ongoing impact of apartheid and colonialism, and of the unspoken histories that many people carry within them,” says writer and performer Bo Petersen.
“My family story is not unique in South Africa. However, it is one that is not often told, and these stories need to be told, as part of a healing process for the devastating damage wreaked by the inhuman laws passed and entrenched by the Apartheid Government,” she says.
What: Pieces of Me
Where and when: Baxter Studio from 10 July until 27 July 2024
Tickets: Webtickets
WS
