Geography: Europe > Western Europe > Netherlands
Year: 2021
Produced by: Het Nationale Theater
Creative Team: Written and directed by Eric de Vroedt; dramaturgy by Willemijn Barelds; design by Maze de Boer.
Synopsis: De eeuw van mijn moeder reconstructs the life of Winnie, who arrives in the Netherlands from the Dutch East Indies as a child in 1948. She attempts to become entirely Dutch and distances herself from the Indonesian identity. She marries a Dutch Entrepreneur and later, her son Ramses begins to investigate the colonial history she tried to suppress. The production follows several generations, showing how migration enters family relationships through conflicting memories. Winnie understands assimilation as a route towards autonomy and belonging. Ramses conversely, believes the disavowed past is essential to understanding himself. Their disagreement demonstrates that descendants may inherit a history precisely because it was not openly transmitted. The production connects movement from Indonesia to the Netherlands with decolonisation and the unequal racial order that preceded departure.
Source: Het Nationale Theater, official production page and credits: https://www.hnt.nl/nl/de-eeuw-van-mijn-moeder-jzhm Het Nationale Theater, cast interview about inherited memory and the production: https://www.hnt.nl/nl/antoinette-jelgersma-mijn-moeder-verdrong-best-veel-dingen-daar-heb-ik-altijd-teg en-geprotesteerd-sy1p