The National University of Lesotho and the Embassy of the United States of America are to host VENUS, a play by African American Pulitzer prize winner Susan-Lori Parks, at the Maseru Sun Hotel on June 2. 

VENUS is based on the story of Saartjie (Sarah) Baartman, a !Kung (San) woman from South Africa who, because of her prominent posterior, was taken to Britain in 1810 and exhibited as an exotic freak: the Venus Hottentot.  In 1814, Baartman was taken to Paris, France and exhibited by an animal trainer 11 hours a day, seven days a week, until she died 15 months later.  Her remains were put on display in the Museum of man in Paris until the mid-1970s.  

After a long battle by South Africa for the return of her remains, her remains were finally returned in April 2002. 

Parks, the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, has written a play that examines issues such as the objectification of peoples and cultures; people’s fascination with what is “heathen” or foreign and how people are influenced more often by appearances than substance. 

The show starts at 7:00 pm and tickets are M30.00

02 June 2005