Rachael Castell - Filed under ' Congo'

Posts tagged Congo
Explore Congo on posterous

Posted

Oh - just making some theatre with the Autochtones (Pygmies) of the villages of Indo and Nyanga, Congo Brazzaville

Hi there, so in case you were wondering what I was doing out in that there Congo, it was a little bit of this:

(download)

Yup, yup - that right there is essentially a spontaneous piece of theatre created by people from across three continents speaking about 7 languages between them (on this particular occasion - most of our friends speak about 8 languages each anyway!). Of course, Pygmy culture is steeped in a tradition of theatricality, so it's no surprise that our friends there took little persuasion to get into character! But I'm still very proud that we managed to convey so much so collectively in such a short space of time.

(download)

Hooray!

I am even more proud of the fact that we then went on to the much larger village of Nyanga, and actually created a theatre space in the forest (good old 'Mequisa Swag'* as it became known) and performed Alain's play to an invited audience.

Hard though my trip was at times, and strewn with dilemmas, looking back at this footage makes me understand what a remarkable experience any collaborative theatre piece is, but especially when it involves people from such markedly different backgrounds with such varied references. It sort of proves that the essentials of human life are universal - something we all knew anyway, but it's good to see it played out.

* yes I have no idea how to actually spell this, but it means 'theatre in the forest

Tagged Congo Film

Posted

coming home, picking up, retracing steps, and putting it all down and out there

Ok. When last I left off, I was still in Point Noire (first visit) and we had yet to leave for the 'Big Rainforest Adventure' (quotation marks for a reason, read on), and our friends had started to sing. As I rushed out of the internet cafe, I thought I had posted the video of that singing. But I hadn't. So here it is now:

(download)

[In this video: Alain's hands, Mise's voice, Wilfred singing, and the rest of the team: Aaron, Jeanne, Kate, Nicole, Mr. Bienvenue, Raoul, Jean Leopold. Driving through the streets of Pointe Noire]

Gosh - that was ages ago.

As you've probably reaslised by now I'm home. I'm alive and well, and I've been home for some time now - over two weeks.* Therefore, it is also readily apparent that I have been procrastinating. Indeed. Procrastinating, avoiding, commencing and abandoning - all that sort of thing. Basically, not updating my blog.

"But for why?" I hear you cry (and I don't know why you're using that antiquated linguistic style, but you are). Well, for many reasons I suppose.

Read the rest of this post »