First there are the words, those of a story that unfolds in the short space of time between a red traffic light and a green one, somewhere in a city. Thirty seconds, a minute, to share the questions, formulate the answers; unwind the disquiet thread of a life. Querying the silent figure of a woman driver waiting for the light to turn green, Lamine talks about himself, evoking mother and father, wife and child, childhood friend and friend met while travelling, whose voices go through his mind and body. A dialogued monologue, written in an image-laden language, And If I Killed Them All Madame? draws a portrait of a man caught between truths and lies of an existence on hold. Misfortune, exile, abandonment, dreams and disillusions, but also the irrepressible need to go forward: through Lamine's words, it is a whole continent that takes the floor. Mixing theatre with music, the incisive hip hop of the Faso Kombat group with songs of a more traditional inspiration by Hamidou Bonssa, Aristide Tarnagda takes a sharp look at the ambiguous relationship maintained by two worlds that mingled for over a century without really understanding each other. But in the urgency of the moment, it is important to get beyond the simple observation to look farther, to go and see what is usually hidden and kept silent. In recounting his life, his failures and his desires, Lamine incarnates the words of someone who is still a prisoner today, someone who only comes up against walls and silence and for whom there is no longer anything but a single horizon: a journey that would save his life. A journey to another continent or a return to his birthplace? Nothing is decided, unless it is the necessity of being elsewhere, there where wounds can be healed, there where at last words could be exchanged. There where “waiting is hope”. JFP
Distribution
direction Aristide Tarnagda
scenography Charles Ouitin
lighting Mohamed Kaboré
costumes Huc Jean-Christophe Michel
direction assistant Safourata Kaboré, Sira Diarra
with Hamidou Bonssa, Lamine Diarra
and David Malgoubri, Salif Ouedraogo from the group Faso Kombat
Production
production Compagnie Théâtre Acclamation
coproduction Récréatrales, Institut français