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The Syringa Tree

Chris and I saw this play at the Lost Nation Theater in Montpelier on September 22 2016.  It was one of the best we have seen there.  It is a true story about South African Apartheid and its consequences on its white author and only character.

The sole actress plays 24 different characters through her intonation, posture, movements, and expression.  She did an incredible job and the dialogue she mastered lasted at least an hour and a half.  During all that time, it was readily apparent which character she was at any given moment. 

The main character is the author as a young girl, the privileged daughter of a white physician. The only prop is a graceful trunk with a swing hanging from it.  This is the Syringa tree that gives the play its title.  It represented an ornamental tree in the compound of the young girl's family and was the focus of the action in most of the scenes. Although you only saw its trunk and the branch the swing was hanging from, a full tree was on the cover of the play bill and that picture reminded Chris and me of the sacred tree we saw at the future site of the Anajali High School.  And therein is the reason for this post.  The word "Syringa" somehow sounded familiar and I wondered if that was the name we had learned in Kenya, so I came home and looked it up. 

My first hit was mystifying to say the least.  Syringa is the generic name for lilacs.  That is probably why it seemed familiar.  However, I knew lilacs could not grow large enough for a swing and they did not drop berries, a feature that played a prominent role in a couple of scenes.  I began to wonder if there was some kind of mistake.  Then I had an "ahah" moment and looked up "Syringa Tree in South Africa."  In addition to the hit on the play, I ran across the real Syringa tree.  It turns out it is a large ornamental tree with berries imported into South Africa in the early 1900s from India.  Alas, it probably was NOT the sacred tree we saw in Kenya.

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