Last weekend was the last part of the series "Lights on: Freedom Fighters" with the story of the life of the slave, Quashiba. The show was magnificent.
Despite the cancellation of Saturday evening's performance for weather reasons, the latest edition of the artistic, cultural and educational concept telling the story of local emblematic characters, actors of the resistance in the time of slavery, and organized by the Tourist Office and Stéphie Gumbs, attracted a crowd of adults and children. After the story told by One Tété Lohkay, George Daniel and François-Auguste Perrinon, it was the turn of the Quashiba slave to be honoured. Audrey Claxton played the strong woman who escaped from St. Martin by boat to Anguilla in 1835 with five other slaves, including her two children, Sammy and Jane. Accompanied by two young budding actors who played Sammy and Jane, Audrey Claxton delivered a moving and poignant performance, conveying all the aggressiveness that Quashiba must have felt while preparing their escape. Then, the intervention in English by Rhoda Arrindell allowed the public to learn more about the methods used by the slave owners, about the revolution launched by the latter and especially about the archives of the time.
The research work was meticulous given the lack of detailed information on Quashiba's life, which takes its name from the day of his birth, a Sunday. Later called Sheba, because only names from the Bible were tolerated in the plantations, she was initially responsible for cutting the grass in the sugar cane fields. Quashiba, through the voice of Audrey Claxton, explains the danger such an environment represented. She meets shortly after Matthew Stancliff who will teach her what it is to be loved, it is a real love at first sight between them. Because Quashiba wanted to provide a better future for her children, she set up an escape plan with Matthew who owned a boat. The actress takes us on this crazy journey that will lead them all to freedom. Arrived on the shores of Anguilla at night, Quashiba, her children and Matthew quickly adapt to their new life, free. Reports of Quashiba's escape highlight the difficulties faced by local authorities on several islands because European powers did not end the horrors of slavery at the same time. The British government abolished slavery in 1834, the French in 1848 and the Dutch in 1863. Although the "maroons", those enslaved Africans who gained their freedom by fleeing, have existed since the beginning of slavery in the Caribbean , abolitions presented a new challenge for the colonizing powers. Quashiba's life is one of many, the quintessence of his story lies in the power of love. At the end of the show, the other actors who played the characters from previous editions joined Audrey Claxton to pose with members of the public, won over by this latest edition of Lights on: Freedom Fighters. _VX
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