Theatre
Kétéyouli, l'étudiant noir
Not translated into English
Synopsis
Charles Kétéyouli has just passed his baccalauréat. With the help of his father, an open-minded man, and against his greedy uncle and the village's corrupt fetish priest, he leaves to study agronomy in France, leaving behind Janine, whom everyone regards as his fiancée. There, drawn by easy living and by a certain Alice, he thinks of settling, between two compatriots, one arguing for exile, the other for return. Now an engineer, he comes back to the village on holiday and learns that Janine's father wants to give her to the highest bidder, an old polygamous trader.
Context
The play was first performed on 18 March 1966 and, according to the foreword of an undated second edition, published in Lomé by the éditions de la Lagune, was a resounding success. Its authors say there that they wish to contribute to the transformation of minds: it attacks the dowry, polygamy, the marriage imposed on girls, fetishism and the greed of parents, and condemns the brain drain. Its subtitle, Le Drame des jeunes élites africaines, and its title echo Kocoumbo, l'étudiant noir, a novel by the Ivorian Aké Loba published in 1960.
Who it is for
In French, divided into three acts, with an explicit thesis; it reads as a document on the hopes of the years of independence.
Prizes and reception
Acclaimed by the Lomé audience at its first performance; cited in surveys among the plays that launched Togolese theatre after independence.
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