Republic of the Congo / All works
Theatre
Equatorium
Not translated into English
Maxime N'Débéka · 1987
Synopsis
In an Africa after independence, a head of state, enlightened guide and father of the nation, wants to establish his power through an initiation rite that is to give him an infallible eye, able to point out his enemies. The rite requires a powder made from his own twin children, and those who oppose it, the mother of the twins and the reverend, are pushed aside. A provocative Ghost opens the play before an aquarium in which equatorial Africa is put on show, and calls out to the characters as well as the audience.
Context
The play appeared in 1987 in Paris, from Présence africaine, in the Théâtre series. N'Débéka had already given in 1970, with P.J. Oswald, Le Président, a satirical drama in three acts reissued by L'Harmattan in 1982, then Les Lendemains qui chantent with Présence africaine in 1983: presidential power thus runs through his theatre. Equatorium was reviewed as early as 1988 by Jean Cléo Godin in the Quebec review Jeu.
Who it is for
For reading a Congolese play that makes absolute power into a cruel and funny fable, in French.
Prizes and reception
Jean Cléo Godin sees in it a strong play, mixing the tragic and farce, a sumptuous entertainment in the African manner.
Sources for this page 5
The pages consulted to check this page.