Once upon a time there was a civil war, among so many others, as terrifying and destructive as all the others. It was in 1997 in Congo-Brazzaville. It lasted a few years, almost three. Dieudonné Niangouna experienced it in his flesh and spirit. Today, he can finally deliver a text on this subject, a text that he has long held hidden, convinced that all the survivors could only be cowards as they did not die as heroes. A “pile of inanities” one of which – The Barricades – is at the origin of this duet of words and music that presents a journey into tragedy, a journey into unreality, a journey into an elsewhere that you would rather not know. A journey into reconstruction as well, as the author-story teller Niangouna resuscitates in writing, in acting, comes back to life in shouting out those moments of violence and fear. To the “living reader” whom he addresses, he transmits a transfigured experience that could be believed fictional if it did not have the effect of a bomb on those who were lucky enough to escape this shattering and often irrational adventure of war. A journey into hell that Dieudonné Niangouna shares with Pascal Contet, an outstanding figure in contemporary music, capable of turning his accordion into a full-fledged character who accompanies the screams and the murmurs and becomes a partner in suffering. It is a genuine dialogue that emerges between the two interpreters and their instruments: the voice of one, the music of the other. We are thus in the theatre and not in a documentary narrative, thus the required distance is established to present what is at the heart of a reconstruction work through the survival of memory. Written in a unique style made up of accumulations of images and verbal interventions full of humour and irony, this show confirms, if it were necessary, the obvious presence of one of the greatest Congolese writers, who is also a powerful and generous actor. JFP
Distribution
text, direction and interpretation: Dieudonné Niangouna
music and interpretation: Pascal Contet
lighting: Xavier Lazarini et Brunel Makoumbou
administration: Cie Les Bruits de la rue Audifax Moumpossa
production: Marthe Lemut
Production
production déléguée: Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy
coproduction: Festival d'Avignon, l'Allan Scène nationale de Montbéliard,
Châteauvallon Centre national de Création et de Diffusion culturelles, Théâtre 71 Scène nationale de Malakoff, Théâtre d'Arras
avec le soutien: de CulturesFrance dans le cadre d'Afrique en création, de l'Ina GRM, des Francophonies en Limousin et des Centres culturels français de Brazzaville et de Pointe Noire