About this event
A performance that showcases the full power and beauty of Kinyarwanda, a language all too rarely heard on our stages. A hit with audiences and critics alike at the last Avignon Festival. Adapted from Gaël Faye’s wonderful novel Petit pays, Gahugu Gato chooses to perform the text in its original language so as to anchor it in the reality of Rwanda today. Rwandan director, producer and actress Dida Nibagwire and Frédéric Fisbach, a leading figure in French theatre, have opted for a pared-down production, inspired by the codes of trestle theatre. Minimal sets, a small cast, and a show designed to travel easily from village to village and be performed outdoors. Gahugu Gato combines acting, singing and dancing performed by brilliant Rwandan and Burundian artists. The music, a rich blend of poetry and intensity, accompanies the choral narrative of a past that is still raw. The performances coincide with the commemoration of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, art here offering a luminous space of memory in which to recount and reconstruct. The stories discussed refer to acts of violence. Copresentation Théâtre des Martyrs