Le Festival des Mensonges (The Festival of Lies)

Here, Faustin Linyekula consciously breaks with the cliché of Black vitality. He experiments with forms of narration, switches between dance, acting and performance, and formulates clearly defined political positions. The present piece, which has neither a beginning nor an end, is ironically entitled “The Festival of Lies”. It revolves around the traumatic history of Linyekula’s home, the Congo, and endeavours to make the experience of being uprooted tangible to others.

"Le Festival des Mensonges" juxtaposes the laconic coexistence of the narrator and the actors, casual dancing and music, the radio voices of past rulers, power politics and tiny stories. They comprise the various elements of a common identity which - after more than a century of foreign rule, murderous dictatorships and bloody civil wars - has had precious little time to form. For the brief duration of the performance, the disparate levels of reality merge to create the vision of such a community in "Le Festival des Mensonges".

Choreography, light: Faustin Linyekula

Text: Marie-Louise Bibish Mumbu

Actors: Papy Ebotani, Djodjo Kazadi, Faustin Linyekula, Marie-Louise Bibish Mumbu

Music: traditional congolesian music, live performance

Duration: 120 minutes

German première (World première: february 2005)