Portrait de Rita
- 19:00
- 18:00
- Duration 1:30
- From 14 years old
- PRM
- Accessible for visually impaired audiences
- In French
Usine à Gaz, Salle 2
Rue César-Soulié 1,
Nyon
text Laurène Marx, based on interviews with Rita Nkat Bayang conducted by Laurène Marx and Bwanga Pilipili direction Laurène Marx performance Bwanga Pilipili lighting design Kelig Le Bars lighting management Liliana Ferry musical direction Laurène Marx original music Maïa Blondeau, with the participation of Nils Rougé sound management Hannah Kircher artistic collaboration Jessica Guilloud assistant director Skandar Kazan production Compagnie Hande Kader support, production and touring Habemus papam – Cora-Line Lefèvre, Rosine Louviaux, Alix Maraval, Apolline Paquet co-productions Théâtre Ouvert; Les Quinconces & L’Espal; Festival d’Automne, Paris; Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles; Les Halles de Schaerbeek; Collectif FAIR-E / CCN Rennes et de Bretagne; Théâtre National de Strasbourg; Théâtre Sorano, Scène conventionnée, Toulouse
In September 2023, Mathis, a nine-year-old schoolboy near Charleroi, was subjected to racist insults from his classmates. In response, he erupted into what the school deemed an uncontrollable outburst of anger, leading staff to call the police. When Rita arrived, she found her son pinned to the ground by a police officer.
Drawing from interviews conducted with Rita Nkat Bayang, Laurène Marx and Bwanga Pilipili expose a form of systemic racism that suffocates a woman in her workplace just as it suffocates her son on the ground.
The singular strength of Portrait de Rita lies in the encounter between three perspectives: that of a mother at the heart of the story; that of an actress, both observer and herself affected by ethno-racial discrimination; and that of a white trans* author bringing her own reflections on whiteness into the piece.
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Portrait de Rita Laurène Marx & Bwanga Pilipili © Pauline Le Goff
text Laurène Marx, based on interviews with Rita Nkat Bayang conducted by Laurène Marx and Bwanga Pilipili direction Laurène Marx performance Bwanga Pilipili lighting design Kelig Le Bars lighting management Liliana Ferry musical direction Laurène Marx original music Maïa Blondeau, with the participation of Nils Rougé sound management Hannah Kircher artistic collaboration Jessica Guilloud assistant director Skandar Kazan production Compagnie Hande Kader support, production and touring Habemus papam – Cora-Line Lefèvre, Rosine Louviaux, Alix Maraval, Apolline Paquet co-productions Théâtre Ouvert; Les Quinconces & L’Espal; Festival d’Automne, Paris; Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles; Les Halles de Schaerbeek; Collectif FAIR-E / CCN Rennes et de Bretagne; Théâtre National de Strasbourg; Théâtre Sorano, Scène conventionnée, Toulouse