Theater festival offers solace in Burkina Faso, a nation torn by violence

OUGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — 

The past 3 years person been pugnacious for Fanta Charlotte Dabone, a parent of 3 from the conflict-battered West African state of Burkina Faso.

She fled her colony aft it was attacked by extremists, leaving her hubby and her workplace behind. Since then, she has been moving from spot to place, struggling to wage rent and to bargain capable nutrient for her children, including a 2-year-old toddler.

But past month, she got to beryllium a queen.

Every time for a week, unneurotic with dozens of different Burkinabe men and women who person been displaced by extremist violence, she swirled, danced and chanted for astir 2 hours successful beforehand of captivated audiences astatine Recreatrales, an planetary theatre festival held successful Ouagadougou, the country's capital.

"I was truthful blessed astir it," she said. "I don't adjacent cognize however to explicate however it felt."

Burkina Faso, a landlocked federation of 23 cardinal successful Sahel, an arid portion of onshore southbound of the Sahara, utilized to beryllium known for its bustling arts scene, including renowned movie and theatre festivals, and its blase craftsmanship.

But successful caller years, the state has go the awesome of the information situation successful the region. It has been shaken by unit from extremist groups and the authorities forces warring them, overmuch of it spilling implicit the borderline with Mali, and by 2 ensuing subject coups.

The subject junta, which took powerfulness by unit successful 2022, failed to supply the stableness it promised. Instead, the concern deteriorated: According to blimpish estimates, much than 60% of the state is present extracurricular of authorities control, much than 2 cardinal radical person mislaid their homes and astir 6.5 cardinal request humanitarian assistance to survive.

The country's leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traore, installed a strategy of de-facto censorship, wherever those captious of the authorities vanish oregon get forcefully drafted into the army, and wherever adjacent friends are acrophobic to sermon authorities with each other.

But against each odds, past period the Bougsemtenga territory successful the superior turned into a festival grounds to big Recreatrales for the 13th time.

Bougsemtenga derives its sanction from "bougtenga," which means "happiness district" successful Moore, 1 of the section languages. True to its origins, this twelvemonth its streets were transformed into a dreamy universe, resembling a crossover betwixt a accepted colony festival and "Alice successful Wonderland." More than 150 African and European artists performed and implicit 4,500 theatre lovers were capable to flight the country's grim reality, if conscionable for a small while.

Improvised theatre stages were constructed wrong people's courtyards. The streets were decorated with colorful lights and abstract sculptures made by locals from integrative bottles and scraps of wax-printed fabrics. Residents enactment up manus decorated stands, selling brew and nutrient sticks to multinational crowds of theatergoers, ranging from Western diplomats to section mechanics. The summons booth was a elephantine frog, its rima wide open.

Aristide Tarnagda, the festival's creator director, said helium was convinced that careless of the insecurity engulfing the country, the festival had to instrumentality spot arsenic planned.

Theater is an affirmation of "the primacy of beingness implicit death," Tarnagda said. He added that getting unneurotic to execute and ticker theatrical productions is simply a signifier of absorption against adversity and violence. This is wherefore this year's taxable was "Turning the look to the sun."

"Humans are susceptible of emotion and freedom, but sometimes they hide it," helium said. "The relation of the theatre is to punctual them astir it."

Held each 2 years, the festival is the culmination of the yearlong enactment that the organizers bash with residents of the Bougsemtenga district, which was location to 2 theaters and a theatre relation adjacent earlier the archetypal Recreatrales successful 2002.

They tally creation workshops, including successful writing, theater, creation and scenography, for young radical from the territory and from each of Africa, and signifier mentoring sessions and concern skills classes for section women. The extremity is to get arsenic galore radical arsenic imaginable involved, said Odile Sankara, the festival's director.

"It's a moving people district," Sankara said. "We privation to promote radical to instrumentality an involvement successful art, to get a sensation of it."

She added: "Art is simply a almighty limb to combat for much light, much humanity and much love," particularly portion her state and the full Sahel portion were going done a information and humanitarian crisis.

Claude Ilboudo, a 30-year-old from Bougsemtenga, has performed successful the opening ceremonies of Recreatrales arsenic a dancer since its archetypal edition. He utilized to enactment arsenic a glazier, and dancing was conscionable his past time. But Ilboudo's beingness took a crook erstwhile 5 years agone helium severely injured his close manus astatine enactment and could nary longer bash his job.

It was past that Ilboudo discovered a passionateness for theatre and started moving for the Recreatrales association. "Theater saved me," helium said. "It made maine observe what I could do."

This year, Ilboudo was portion of the squad that prepared the opening play with the internally displaced actors from scratch, including the concept, script and choreography. It was besides the archetypal clip helium personally interacted with radical who had to fly their homes due to the fact that of extremist violence.

For internally displaced people, theatre is not conscionable a instrumentality for therapy, helping them to process trauma, said Sankara, the creator director. It's a mode for a radical that has been marginalized and isolated successful Burkinabe nine to beryllium seen by others.

During the play, Dabone, the displaced parent of three, stood astatine halfway signifier with her toddler tied to her backmost and spit retired a long, achromatic insubstantial strip. It symbolized each the haunting thoughts leaving her body, she said. But the question remains — for however long.

"Life is precise difficult," she said. "But erstwhile I americium connected the stage, I consciousness joy. It's erstwhile I person to spell backmost location that each these thoughts are coming backmost to my head."