Dieudonné Niangouna’s Shéda at the Holland Festival -Les Bruits de la Rue

due to the ongoing civil unrest in Congo, Les Bruits de la Rue, a group of theatremakers are forced to perform in the streets of Brazzaville, next to the ravaged theaters that they once used to present their art.

The international premiere of Shéda, directed by Congolese theatre maker Dieudonné Niangouna and performed by Les Bruits de la Rue, will take place on 6 and 7 June 2013 as part of the Holland Festival. After the 7 June performance, Niangouna will participate in a Q&A with writer and director Maarten van Hinte. Dieudonné Niangouna is one of today’s most prominent innovators of African theatre and a Prince Claus Fund project partner. The production and performance of Shéda is supported by the Prince Claus Fund and the Institut Français.

“I will make the audience howl with laughter, while it’s all very serious and really nothing to laugh about.”

– Dieudonné Niangouna

Dieudonné Niangouna is a writer, director and one of the most prominent innovators of African theatre. Through his dynamic performances, he reflects the violence and anger in Congo today. By combining French, the popular poetry of Congolese writer Sony Labou Tansi and the traditional mythical stories of his people, the Lari, Niangouna has created a vibrant ‘living language for the living’ that serves as a weapon in the fight against injustice.

Les Bruits de la Rue’s performance of Shéda is a ‘choral odyssey’ with twelve African and European actors, including Niangouna himself, and two musicians. Part theatre, part musical performance, Shéda is an orchestrated stream of words, thoughts and images fused together to form a layered theatrical fresco. Niangouna employs his ‘living language’ onstage to create a refuge in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event. The characters that gather there embody fallen gods. They are heroes from a bygone era who have returned as ghosts or dreamlike apparitions. In Shéda, these spectres try to redeem their humanity while sharing their stories and memories of the end of the world.

Shéda by Les Bruits de la Rue, directed by Dieudonné Niangouna 

Thursday, 6 June 2013

20:00 – 23:00

Stadsschouwburg

Leidseplein 26, Amsterdam

Friday, 7 June 2013

19:45 Introduction by Maarten van Hinte

20:00 Performance

23:00 Q&A with Dieudonné Niangouna and Maarten van Hinte

Stadsschouwburg

Leidseplein 26, Amsterdam

Language: French with Dutch surtitles