Avignon 2019: Histoire(s) du théâtre (II): on the pros and cons of theatrical commemoration
In the narrative of history, the question “who is telling the story” is the most important one. HISTOIRE(S) DU THÉÂTRE II, created by the Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula, frames its chronicle from many perspectives and several temporal settings. It connects the history of Zaire under Mobutu’s dictatorship with the story of the glory and the fall of its national symbol – the National Ballet of Zaire. Created in 1974, the company served as an export image of a new Zaire, touring the world with its iconic production L’Épopée de Lianja. However, with the changes in the country’s politics and economics, the company, together with Zaire’s people, started to experience financial drawbacks, with its latest production dating back to the 1980s. Some of the performers, who joined the company yet in 1974, are still there, although many of them have either left or passed away.
To commemorate the company and the performance of his childhood, Faustin Linyekula brought the three members of L’Épopée de Lianja’s original cast (Wawina Lifeteke, Papy Maurice Mbwiti, and Marie-Jeanne Ndjoku Masula) on the stage of Avignon 2019, now as the core team of his HISTOIRE(S) DU THÉÂTRE II.
In the style echoing Milo Rau’s experiments in the theatre of ultimate truth or political murder (the International Institute of Political Murder), Linyekula brings together the actors’ testimonies and the footage of the original performance.
In fact, Milo Rau, now an artistic director of the NTGent theatre, played a crucial role in promoting this project. Its first part, The Repetition, Histoire(s) du théâtre (I), premiered in Avignon 2018, after which Milo Rau invited Faustin Linyekula to create its sequel, to be rehearsed and presented in Belgium. Ironically, however, the Congolese artists, who play the crucial role in this re-enactment of history, were refused Belgian visas and hence the work on the project had to take place elsewhere. Rwanda – another ironic nod of history – has become the place for all the artists to meet and rehearse.
All this information, vital for our understanding of the historical and political significance of HISTOIRE(S) DU THÉÂTRE II, is delivered by Oscar Van Rompay, a Belgian theatre artist, romantically drawn to the Congolese culture. He is one of the major narrators in this play.
Another important narrator is Ikondongo Mukoko, a contemporary Congolese actor, who represents Faustin Linyekula himself. “The concept of History, and the sharing of stories, is central to my work”, Linyekula explains. The fact that Belgium and Congo share the problematic heritage of colonialization and that neither side has properly faced it drives this project. That is why it is framed not once but three times: through the eyes of Oscar, who feels more like an ethnographer or a journalist in this story of remembering Zaire’s cultural past; by Ikondongo Mukoko, who calls himself an exotic performer selling exotic stories of colonial misery, massacres and grief; and through the memories of three performers of the National Ballet of Zaire.
A rectangular platform on the empty stage of HISTOIRE(S) DU THÉÂTRE II is the place for this ritual of theatrical commemoration: one by one, each of the actors steps on this platform to give their testimonies. At the back, there is a pile of theatre masks and objects; they all seem to come to us directly from history, from the 1974 L’Épopée de Lianja. These props will come to life once again when the major scenes from L’Épopée de Lianja will be re-enacted in front of our eyes. On the right there is also a large TV: HISTOIRE(S) DU THÉÂTRE II begins with the silent transmission of the opening scenes of the original production, with black and white images flickering on the monitor.
Oscar puts on a chair centre stage and an African mask on his face. He explains a genesis of this work and questions his own place in it. Soon, Ikondongo joins Oscar on stage. He pushes a cart with masks and costumes, they are the props of history and of this re-enactment. He is here to sell another exotic story – that of the rise and of the fall of one theatre company. Finally, the three older actors appear and so as they dance and sing the recollection of history begins.
The goal is to seek the truth of history, even if takes telling it many times and in different versions. In fact, one can call HISTOIRE(S) DU THÉÂTRE II a repository of theatrical devices in truth-seeking – it includes real people not actors sharing their own histories, verbal and physical testimonies, and the archival footage of the past, running above the stage. It also presents elaborate scenes of re-enactment, with Ikondongo Mukoko and Oscar Van Rompay starring in one of them – the death of the evil chief-spirit, Sau-Sau, killed by the hero Lianja in revenge for his father’s murder.
Despite the fact that the 14th century Mongo epic L’Épopée de Lianja is a story of “a foretold hero-messiah who will come to lead warring tribes to brotherhood and prosperity”; it also contains scenes of violence, as history without violence does not exist. Named after its major hero, Lianja, the son of the half-spirit Ilele and Mbombe, a Lady of Wisdom, who during the miracle of Lianja’s birth becomes a kind of All-Mother figure, giving birth to animals, birds and an entire race of people, it highlights Lianja’s major deed, revenge of his father. To re-enact the scene of Lianja’s heroics, Oscar is called on stage to play the evil spirit with Ikondongo impersonating Lianja himself.
As the older actors dress Oscar and Ikondongo into their appropriate costumes and put make up on, the transformation takes place. It bears artistic and political undertones – Lianja must kill the evil spirt. Ikondongo – a representative of his people – must kill the white guy, Oskar. But Oskar likes to play theatrics, his acting is over the top and out of proportions, so Ikondongo makes a joke about the white guy who does not want to die again and again.
In this play of questioning the history of Zaire and its national heritage, therefore, the director Faustin Linyekula also interrogates the role Belgium played in the making of this state. HISTOIRE(S) DU THÉÂTRE II finishes with Oskar asking all four Congolese actors what would they like to re-do in the story of their country, what dreams do they now have for its future? Only Ikondongo responds: it would be interesting to see what would have happened if Belgium joined Zaire, if it became another province or a tribe of his country. But history does not now a subjunctive mood, only the past perfect.
The last image we see is another re-enactment – the three Congolese actors come on stage in the European dress of the late 18th century. They pose as a happy family at the background of an improvised wall with an empty picture frame above them. Papy Maurice Mbwiti speaks a long monologue and sings a song, in the language we do not understand. The performance ends on an open note: what’s in the past is in the past, there is nobody to tell the future… whatever Papy Maurice Mbwiti’s song was about will remain hidden from us, unable to understand his language and to a certain extent his history.
Information
HISTOIRE(S) DU THÉÂTRE II
Direction, choreography, sound, text Faustin Linyekula
Direction assistant Papy Maurice Mbwiti
With Wawina Lifeteke, Papy Maurice Mbwiti, Marie-Jeanne Ndjoku Masula, Ikondongo Mukoko, Oscar Van Rompay
Costumes Ignace Yenga
Video L’Épopée de Lianja by Ballet National de la Compagnie Théâtre National Congolais (extracts)
Production NTGent, Studios Kabako, in collaboration with Ballet National de la Compagnie Théâtre National Congolais (Kinshasa) and Isaano, Positive Production (Kigali), with the support of Belgian Tax Shelter, Onda Office national de diffusion artistique, and in partnership with France Médias Monde
Cour minérale – Avignon Université, Avignon Festival, July 18-23, 2019
PHOTO: Christophe Raynaud de Lage