Shéda

Synopsis

In the earth and stone desert rise up, from nowhere, beings who have fallen. These beings come from elsewhere, where they were undoubtedly powerful, intelligent, adapted to the world that surrounded them. Perhaps they are fallen gods. Whatever the case, they are presented to us as men and women, sometimes human shades, who have come to recount the noises of the world, fear and solitude. They are there to name the past in order to live the present, to continue to exist in asserting their fragility, in this battlefield that is life. Monologues, dialogues, direct addresses to the public: their words fill the space of this quarry, amplified by music and song. Here, the story does not count as such: it is the force of the one who recounts it that is essential. Because, for Dieudonné Niangouna, words devour the world. For the last 11 years, the Congolese author, actor and director has been ‘ruminating’ “Shéda”. He has been seeing pictures, perceiving situations, hearing sounds. Today, he is orchestrating this flow of images and words, which are arranged in a metaphorical fresco touching life as much as death, violence as much as love, wisdom as much as madness, the impasse as much as hope. A melting pot of words and thought borne by a chorus of 14 African and European actors and musicians, including Dieudonné Niangouna himself. The figures of “Shéda” confront each other, fall and get up again in search of water, the guarantee of survival in a world of drought and desolation. “Shéda” is also the total of what constitutes a life: what we know because we experience it and what we don't know but that is in us because it is our history, that of our ancestors, the one that we have built for ourselves in dreams and books.

Cast

• Laetitia Ajanohun, Marie-Charlotte Biais, Madalina Constantin, Pierre-Jean Etienne, Frédéric Fisbach, Wakeu Fogaing, Diariétou Keita, Abdon Fortuné Koumbha, Harvey Massamba, Mathieu Montanier and Dieudonné Niangouna

Production

Compañía: Les Bruits de la Rue (Congo)

Autores: Dieudonné Niangouna

Música: Pierre Lambla y Armel Malonga

Diseño de iluminación: Xavier Lazarini

Diseño de sonido: Robin Dallier

Diseño de escenografía: Patrick Janvier,con la asistencia deLudovic Louppé y Papythio Matoudidi

Diseño de vestuario: Velica Panduru

Producción: Antoine Blesson, Claire Nollez, Noëlle Ntsiessie Kibounou, con la asistencia de Léa Couqueberg y Léa Serror

Fecha y ciudad de estreno: 6 y 7 de junio de 2013, Ámsterdam

Coproducción: Festival d’Avignon, Holland Festival, IX Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires, Comédie de Reims - CDN Bonlieu -Scènenationaled’Annecy.

Con el apoyo de La Ferme du Buisson, Scènenationale de Marne-la-Vallée. Con el apoyo de la región Île-de-France, la Association Beaumarchais-SACD, Adami, la Embajada de Francia en Congo, el Institut Françaisen Congo (Brazzaville) y la Embajada de Congo en Francia. También con el apoyo del Institut Français en el marco del fondo para la producción CIRCLES y el programa Afrique et Caraïbes en Créations. La compañía Les Bruits de la Rue cuenta con el apoyo del Ministerio de Cultura y Comunicación - DRAC Île-de-France. Con el apoyo excepcional de TOTAL E&P Congo y Equatorial Congo Airlines.

Schedule