The young Burundian author Laura Sheïlla Inangoma enters this Tuesday, July 19 at 11 a.m. in the “Court of Honor” of African authors at the Avignon Festival. Trial of Memories, directed by the director Armel Roussel, is presented at the Jardin de la rue de Mons in the form of a voiceover in the 10th edition of It’s alright, it’s alright world! organized by RFI. The reading is also streamed live on Facebook Live.
« When I write, there are times when I write at 100 per hour. At other times, a little bird passes by and you even hear its echoes… Laura Sheïlla Inangoma is still very young, but already recognized in her country. She is very comfortable in front of a camera and her laughter is easily shared. But beware, behind her apparent fragility hides a pugnacious author whom some already consider to be the new icon of Burundian theatre. In Brief trial, Laura Sheïlla Inangoma bravely embraces Burundian history. Madness of grandeur? No, it is rather consistent with its name Inangoma which means ” the mother of power ».
The power of theater
« In fact, it’s the woman of the drum, she corrects. And in Burundi, the drum is like power. To announce to all Burundians that there is a new king, we beat the drum. The power of the theater consists in giving the voice, in giving a space of expression, to say aloud what one says softly. As a Burundian woman, it is very refreshing. It really is a beautiful platform that has enormous power. »
And what superpower in particular does this young author of 28 years have with the theater? ” I would say that I’m not afraid to put certain words on paper, to really say what I think. It’s a freedom that I give myself in writing. As an actress, I propose, but I use other people’s words. »
Selected for the 10th edition of It’s alright, it’s alright everyone !, reading his play Brief trial will take place between that of the Goncourt Mohamed Mbougar Sarr prize and that of the great Congolese author Dieudonné Niangouna. No wonder there is a palpable little nervousness for its premiere in France. ” Yes, I’m very nervous. I’ve been following these great authors for years. They inspire me. And today, I find myself in it. I hope that my nervousness will not manifest itself during the reading. »
The Memoir of Umuganuro
Because, in addition to being the author, Laura Sheïlla Inangoma will also be one of the actors on stage. To bring the play to life on stage, she agreed to reduce the number of characters provided for in the text. Instead of 25, there will be 16 actors, but even this “reduced” device still explodes the usual technical device with its eight microphones provided for the voiceover directed by Armel Roussel.
What memories is she talking about in Brief trial ? « We are talking about the memory of Umuganuro. This festival existed in Burundi at the time of the dynasty, until 1932. This festival has disappeared. It was like a national holiday, our way of saying to each other : “Happy New Year!”. The king blessed the seeds, brought together all the Burundian clans. It is this memory that we have lost. I try to re-explore it through a cult that is practiced today. The story takes place in 2022, with a cult that happened before and a party that we lost. As these are cults that are now called “barbaric” in our Christian societies, this lands in this trial in 2022. »
A tribunal, a trial, three defendants, this is the formal starting point of the play. But who are these three women? ” These women are ordinary women. A woman is a farmer, she is 75 years old. The other is an ex-ombudswoman (mediator) who has become unemployed since she started doing her “dark” rites. And the third is a midwife. These three women have the particularity that they appropriate the names of women (in the past) who practiced the cults and who were called: women with the responsibility of maintaining the drum of the dynasty. The other was responsible for the Jururyikagongo cult, the cult of the Bihiribigonzi python which accompanied the cult of the Umuganuro feast where the king, before opening the feast to everyone, simulated sexual acts… as a reminiscence of the reproduction of Burundians . The other cult is called Mukakaryenda. To put it simply, it is the wife of the Burundian priest in ancient times. So, these are three ordinary women who appropriate the names of these female cult leaders. They say they are inhabited by the spirit of these women and are restarting these cults in 2022. And that does not please Christian society… [rires] »
A style “ contemporary »
With the impressive number of characters also invites a great diversity of expression. There is a woman dressed in Bapfasoni, another wears an Ibirezi on her neck, there is also the Kirundi language and Amayugi bells… Laura Sheïlla Inangoma’s theatrical language is often imbued with Burundian culture. But to characterize her language, her style, her way of writing, the author uses another word: “ Contemporary, because it embraces all other art forms. In the play, there is poetry borrowed from Burundian shepherds who praise cows. The play also features a few dances, but which we took out, because it doesn’t get on the radio… The text also features this Burundian language that hasn’t been transcribed into classical theater in general, because we weren’t not there at the time… It brings a little bit of Burundian culture, but there are also plays on French words, because that strongly influences us. At school, I started speaking French at the age of 6. »
It remains to be seen whether the public will understand this piece so rooted in Burundian culture? Or rather the public, because there will be spectators in the Jardin de la rue de Mons, Internet users connected to Facebook Live, RFI listeners in Burundi, but also in other African countries and even on other continents. What is the universal room size? ” Let’s take the example of the amayugi bells, this kind of instrument also exists in France. Ibirezi necklaces can also exist on the American continent. It’s just that we see them here with the Burundian names. Often, what we believe to be far from us is in fact always very close. In the play, I return to the question: what do we still celebrate today as Burundians after difficult times like the civil wars? What if we went back to our rites, to our ways of celebrating a community together? It’s interesting to have this aspect of the richness of Burundian culture in contemporary theatre, because it wasn’t really present until now. »
The trigger for the theater
Born in 1994, Laura Sheïlla Inangoma came across the theater almost by chance. Marshall Mpingarugano, with whom she will then create the troupe The Bastards of Sanoladante, came knocking on the school door to ask the students if they wanted to do extra-curricular activities… Thus, Laura goes on stage for the first time. On the other hand, it was a few years after her role as a raped young woman that made her understand the importance of theater in her life. A real click…
« Kivu was this woman from the DRC, a country very close to us, who talks about the rape she had of her brother whom she had lost sight of for five years, because he had been taken to a rebels. To interpret this role and to play it not only in Burundi, but also in Rwanda and Congo, that required a lot of effort from me. I never thought I could interpret it. It showed me that this woman really had this need to share that. It touched so many women and people who came to me personally to tell me how good it felt to hear that and cry. It showed me the rightness in what we do. »
The trigger for writing
Since that time, Laura Sheïlla Inangoma considers herself much more than just an actress. She appears as an activist of the African narrative and human rights, actively fighting for equality between men and women. The original cast of the play provides ” 25 living homo sapiens bodies on stage: thirteen female and twelve male “. Was it important that it was a majority of women? She puts her hands in front of her face and bursts out laughing… I do not know » [rires]. Maybe [sourire]. Anyway, for her, commitment to the theater and social and political commitment are intimately linked? ” Yes, because I think when a woman starts writing, expressing her opinions and vocalizing them, it’s already political. Unfortunately, I think that’s true all over the world, not just in Burundi. »
From this period also dates his trigger for writing: « It was in Kenya. As part of a seminar on African leadership, inaugurated in 2018 by Barack Obama, between Kenya and the United States, I encountered the writing of Chimamanda Adichie. His speech on the danger of a single version of history, his wish that there is a new narrative in Africa, it resonated so much with me. I really had a feeling of having a call, and this urgent need to write. I consult the archives of my History. I do a lot of research on myself to reconnect with my story. In Brief trial, I said to myself: let’s not start with the divisionist period, but let’s see, as Burundian people, what we had that was precious. And it was this Umuganuro party. »
► The readings will take place from July 15 to 20 at 11 a.m. (free entry) in the Jardin de la rue de Mons (Maison Jean Vilar), as part of the 10th edition of Ça va, ça va le monde! at the Festival d’Avignon 2022. The readings will also be broadcast live by Facebook Live. The creations will also be broadcast on RFI antennas every Saturday from July 30 to September 3 at 5:10 p.m. (Paris time) and will be available as a podcast on rfi.fr.
The 2022 edition of “It’s okay, it’s okay, people! »
RFI presents Alright, Alright World! in co-production with the Festival d’Avignon and the company [e]utopia, with the support of the SACD, Wallonia-Brussels International, the French Institute, and the French Institute of Benin. This cycle of six readings of works by African and Haitian authors is coordinated by Pascal Paradou and directed by director Armel Roussel.
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