The tongue | Die tong

LANGUAGE RIGHTS, SATIRE & LARGE-SCALE PUPPETRY in
The tongue | Die tong

PLAY READING & LONG TABLE DISCUSSION WITH THE PLAYWRIGHTS  

South African playwright and screenwriter Mercy Kannemeyer joins us in Aarhus to read her new co-authored play with Claire French: 

The origin story of Afrikaans is in the hands of two fringe academics – and a runaway tongue. 

Glori is about to finish a PhD that makes a bold claim: that Afrikaans predates Dutch. Her friend and fellow academic, Julia, is moving countries again – but not before they meet in Johannesburg. 

When troubles in the mouth throw their lives off course, they must confront a world no longer willing to accept the official story. They’re drawn into a battle of ideas: How can we decolonise the archive – and still get tenure? 

The tongue explores well-worn tensions between mind and body, the strange intimacy of academic friendship, and the lifecycle of knowledge – from disruption to doctrine. Special appearances by the Netherlands, South Africa, Australia – and briefly, England. 

The tongue is written into a history of South African activism and international co-productions using large scale puppetry for political purposes. We hope for it to resonate with international audiences and welcome your feedback at this stage of the draft.

The session will be structured as a play reading followed by a meal together and opportunity for questions and feedback via a long-table discussion.

MERCY Kannemeyer is a playwright, screenwriter, director and academic. Her plays include Boesak (2023), Woorde op akkoorde (2020), Die bul die wil nie (2020), Ons is nie almal so nie (2019), Ekstra large, asseblief? (2019, 2020) and Prinz Betliegend (2018). Kannemeyer’s screenwriting for television includes Reënboogrant (2025), Marie se laaste dag (2024), and Arendsvlei (2020 – 2022). For Marie se laaste dag (2024), she won the kykNET Silwerskermfees award for best script, and best short film. She also received a Koker award from the Afrikaans Language Board for pioneering work in the Afrikaans language landscape for the documentary The other side / The Other Side (2017) which deals with Afrikaans as language of instruction at the University of Stellenbosch. In 2017 she received a Rector’s Award from the University of Stellenbosch for exceptional performance in the field of culture. Kannemeyer is currently a Lecturer in Afrikaans and Communication Skills at the University of Johannesburg. 

Claire French is an academic, playwright and dramaturg. As an academic, French has brought together language, power and performance in leading international journals with recent publications ‘Harnessing sociolinguistic variation when writing documentary theatre’ (Theatre Research International) and ‘Facilitating departures from monolingual discourses’ (Applied Theatre Research). She has won several awards from Horizon Europe, the Mellon Foundation, Arts Council England and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. As a playwright, French’s plays include Courage Songs (2024) and The War Party (2014). She has been a dramaturg and producer to playwrights including Sonja Linden and the company Visible Ensemble, London, with plays Roundelay (2017) and Who Do We Think We Are (2015) both running at the Southwark Playhouse, London. French is also a socially engaged theatre practitioner, working with intergenerational community groups (The Old Vic, London), female Muslim migrants (Saathi House, Birmingham), Indigenous and multilingual young actors (Mellon Foundation, Johannesburg), and refugees (Evelyn Oldfield Foundation, London). She has lived in Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, South Africa and presently Denmark, where she is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellow at Aarhus University.