This series of readings is an opportunity for Festival audiences and World Radio listeners to discover new works. These six texts are in fact ‘fresh writings’, most of them unpublished and never performed in Europe. Texts by authors from African countries and Haiti, which from Avignon are addressed to the whole world.
This 12th edition will open with a focus on Cameroon: two texts inspired by social issues, the disappearance of children and freedom of the press. Eric Delphin Kwegoué, winner of the Prix RFI Théâtre 2023, writes a plea for press freedom dedicated to all the journalists murdered in his country. All the other plays, from Benin and Haiti, are also texts of struggle and the missing narratives that are essential to a broader perception of the world.
À cœur ouvert
By Éric Delphin Kwégoué - Cameroun
The famous journalist Santiago has just been murdered. Before he was kidnapped, he had time to warn his friend Paul Alain of the fate that awaits him. Paul Alain tries to flee to safety, then turns back to save his family, because a commando has broken into his house and is threatening his wife and children with documents that could compromise the government. A blogger breaks her silence and urges the population to revolt against the regime and its actions. A contemporary fable written like a thriller, inspired by the murder of Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zongo.
This play won the RFI Théâtre 2023 prize.
*The Prix RFI Théâtre is organised in partnership with the Institut français, the Institut français de Saint-Louis du Sénégal, the Centre dramatique national de Normandie-Rouen, SACD, Les Francophonies - Des écritures à la scène and Théâtre Ouvert, Centre national des dramaturgies contemporaines.
Éric Delphin Kwégoué is an actor, writer and director, as well as an OIF artistic expert with the CITF. He began writing through rap, then poetry, before turning to theatre, and later documentary theatre. From his first play, L'ombre de mon propre vampire, he set personal situations against social, human and political crises. The author of some twenty plays, he is the winner of the RFI Théâtre 2023 Prize.
Distribution
With Claudette Fleur Mendela Bediebe, Criss Niangouna, Oumou Baldé Diallo, Léonce Henri Nlend, Abdon Fortuné Koumbha, Yawanké Nakpane Basile
Reading directed by Eric Delphin Kwégoué, in collaboration with Armel Roussel and Pierre-Alexandre Lampert
The Ça va, ça va le monde! cycle is designed and coordinated by Pascal Paradou.
Production
Coproduction RFI, Compagnie [e]utopia
With the support of Institut français, SACD, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, Fonds Marie-Paule Delvaux Godenne, L'asbl Les Amis de l'Insas and the Agence française de développement