Dakar, September 30 (APS) – The theatrical play “Hannibal”, presented in preview at the Daniel Sorano National Theater, starts from an ancient story to open a window on the drama of illegal emigration, with an obvious ambition to make the link between the past and the present.
The staging of this play lasting more than an hour (1h10) is based on an often hidden truth, according to which migration is a universal phenomenon that is found everywhere and at all times with more or less significant intensity.
Migration has crossed all societies and all ages since antiquity, starting for example from the time of the goddess Elissa, who came from a city not far from Babylon to find herself on Carthaginian lands, in Tunisia. current.
Elissa, considered the legendary founder and first queen of Carthage, lived in peace and prosperity with the people of her homeland on the Mediterranean coast.
This story told by the play “Hannibal” focuses on the feats of arms of “Hannibal, the Carthaginian warrior king”.
It opens with a lyric opera of Dido and Aenea, against a backdrop of sounds that take us back to the third century BC.
After this page of history, the piece returns to the contemporary world in a third scene where many migrants have lost their lives on these Mediterranean coasts.
The installation of an imposing curtain of rags in this refined setting representing people who lost their lives at sea says more about the scale of the tragedy of irregular migration, as does the sadness of the testimonies of women who lost their children forever.
And it is precisely on this point that the story of Belgian directors Michael De Cock, artistic director of the Royal Flemish Theater in Brussels (KVS) and Junior Mthombeni emphasizes, in order to better capture the attention of the more receptive audience. to this part of the piece touching on the news of a most dramatic phenomenon which concerns Senegal to the greatest extent.
They chose to “tell the story from a female point of view”, with mothers remembering their last conversations with their son but above all their expectation of a possible phone call that will never come. A sensitive angle which allows us to denounce Europe’s policy of exclusion more skillfully.
“[…] The peoples of the Mediterranean have always lived together and now, as there is a policy of exclusion in Europe and young people who leave in extremely dangerous canoes, we wanted to talk about that,” explain the two directors.
“Hannibal” which features Senegalese and Belgian actors also celebrates the fusion of several arts, namely dance, music and theater.
The general director of the Daniel Sorano National Theater, El Hadji Ousmane Barro Dione, congratulated the actors who, he said, only had four days to prepare this play.
Speaking in the presence of a representative of the Minister of Culture, he noted that the theme of the play coincides with a context where the issue of irregular emigration has returned with force, a phenomenon to which “we must quickly find solutions”.
Mr. Dione maintains that this play contributes to raising awareness about the fight against this phenomenon, adding that in this context, the play “Hannibal” will be performed in several cities in October.
It will be presented at the Maison de la Culture Oumar Sarr of the Senegalese Association of Modern Schools, in Dagana (north), on the 4th, then in Louga, the next day, October 5.
The Saloum Delta interpretation center in Toubacouta, in Fatick, will host the play on October 10. It will be Rufisque’s turn to host a session on October 11 at “Kepaaru Maam”.
This play, the result of a collaboration between the Daniel Sorano National Theater and the Royal Flemish Theater of Belgium, will finally be represented in Barcelona next May, then in France and Liège, Belgium.
FKS/BK/ASG
