Shocked by the kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram in 2014, Irish writer Edna O’Brien decided to lend her voice to those young victims. From its very first pages, Girl is a quest for healing. In this disturbingly violent novel, Maryam tells us about a personal and universal tragedy, about an ordeal that could have remained unknown forever. She is held prisoner, beaten, raped, married off, and gets pregnant by her captor before managing to escape: she is at once a victim and a fighter. The sexual violence, humiliations, and stonings remind us of ancient tragedies, of laments and poems echoing in hope for a better future. Within the Cour d’honneur, readers will come together to give voice to Girl’s uniqueness and offer the text to 2,000 spectators and to the France culture listeners. Both collective and personal, this text and this reading are like the trees of Ireland and Nigeria, full of secret and images, and eternally powerful.
Distribution
Adaptation Marion Stoufflet
Realisation Anne-Sophie Picon
With Barbara Hendricks, Ludmilla Dabo, Nathalie Richard, Claudia Mongumu
Music Tarik Chaouach (guembri)
Production
Thanks to Sveriges Radio in Stockholm
Reading originally scheduled on July, 7 in the Cour d'honneur du Palais des Papes. In co-production with the Festival d'Avignon.
