A Canadian-based theatre company will this weekend stage Obeah Opera, a retelling of the Salem witch trials that centres on Tituba, the enslaved woman believed to have originated from Barbados, whose name history nearly forgot.
Nicole Brooks, creator of Obeah Opera, spoke on Friday at Newton Enslaved Burial Ground in Christ Church, where the group of cultural practitioners made a special offering before their performances at the Daphne Hackett Theatre in Queen’s Park.
Brooks, who is also a producer and playwright, explained that the production, which has been staged in Canada for more than a decade, gives voice to Caribbean women erased from popular accounts of the 1692 witch trials.
“It is about the Salem witch trials. Most people know of the Salem witch trials through Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. It’s the story of the most famous witch hunt in the Americas happening in 1692. But what people don’t realise is that the first one who was accused was an enslaved woman named Tituba from Barbados. And then afterwards, they seem to just talk about all the other white women; it became a white woman’s plight. But when I researched the Salem witch trials, there were other Caribbean women who were there. But no one is telling their perspective inside of their story, so I took the opportunity through this play to tell that story through their eyes.”
She described the production’s arrival in Barbados as a moment of historical reconnection. “It started with a Barbadian. Actually, our tagline in our flyers said the greatest witch hunt started with a Bajan. I wanted to preserve her culture, to keep steadfast in who she was as a Bajan into the Americas, and that’s what led to the accusation [of her being a witch]. So it is very important that we herald this history not only for the Caribbean’s sake, but particularly to Barbados.”
Most of the company members live in Canada, but many have ties to the island and the region. She said 22 artists, including performers, creatives and their children, travelled for the production, supported by funding from the Canada Council for the Arts. “Although I’m Canadian, I have Caribbeanness. I have Caribbean heritage, and I stressed how important it was for me to tell this story and needing to tour and come back.”
The group expressed disappointment, however, that the performances could not have been included in last month’s CARIFESTA celebrations.
Obeah Opera is described as a hand-clapping, foot-stomping, spirit-lifting production performed entirely a cappella by an all-female cast.
Written and composed by Brooks, it retells the Salem witch trials from the perspective of enslaved Caribbean women. The groundbreaking theatrical work redefines opera by moving away from European classical forms and embracing spirituals, blues, jazz, gospel, African and Caribbean folk, calypso, ska, R&B and reggae, alongside theatre, dance and visual art.
For Brooks, bringing the story home to Barbados is both artistic and ancestral. “That’s a shame, isn’t it?” she said, commenting on why so few Caribbean people knew about Tituba’s story. “We’ve performed it many times in Canada. In actual fact, the Canada Council for the Arts funded us to come to Barbados, because they saw it as a wonderful bridge between the two countries.”
The cast will take the stage at the Daphne Hackett Theatre this weekend, determined to honour Tituba’s story and ensure Barbados is recognised at the root of the world’s most famous witch hunt.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
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