SILENCE DU CHŒUR
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr / Marie-Aurore d'Awans
Performance premiered on 22 September 2026 at the Théâtre Jean Vilar, Louvain-la-Neuve
Thursday 15 October : Gala in aid of the JARFI FOUNDATION
In his epic choral novel, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr – known for *La plus secrète mémoire des hommes*, which won him the Prix Goncourt – recounts the journeys of seventy-two men who have crossed the Mediterranean and landed in a small village in the Sicilian countryside. We call them ‘refugees’; ‘immigrants’; ‘migrants’, but in Altino, they are first and foremost ragazzi, ordinary lads taken in by the Santa Marta association, whose presence turns the small town’s daily life upside down.
As they await their fate, they encounter all manner of characters: an unconventional priest who listens to their stories, a woman determined to offer them asylum and a man resolved to deny it, a disillusioned doctor and a poet who no longer writes, and even a former ragazzo, Jogoy, who has become an interpreter. They all find themselves at the foot of Mount Etna and must learn to live together so as not to erupt like the volcano watching over them.
When Marie-Aurore d’Awans discovered this book – she who takes ragazzi into her home – she recognised faces, stories and voices within it. Surrounded by a dozen actors, she extracts the chorus from the novel to bring it back to the theatre – like a return to Greek tragedies – and paints a profoundly human portrait.
Calendar
Tarifs
- Plein tarif 23 €
- 65ans+/Carte prof/Groupe10+ 21 €
- -30ans/Pro/Dem.d'emploi 11 €
- Groupe scolaire 8 €
- -15ans 7 €
- Etudiants Conservatoires Art de la parole 5 €
Distributions
Adapted from the novel Silence du chœur by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, published by Présence Africaine Editions
Directed by Marie-Aurore d’Awans
With Beavogui N’Fakaba, Mohamed Djibril Camara (en alternance), Mouhamadou Diba, Awa Diouf, Silvia Guerra, Guy Hounou, Francesco Italiano, Aminata Abdoulaye Hama, Hèzou Kadjaziou, Sina Kienou, Yéroné N’Gobi Serge Koto Bio, Anne-Marie Loop, Semere Mebrhatu , Rodrigue Norman, Deborah Rouach, Gaïa Saitta, Ibrahima Diokine Sambou, Mamour Sene, Eva Zingaro-Meyer
Adaptation and dramaturgy Denis Laujol
Sound design Ibaaku
Set design Aurélie Borremans
Lighting design Emily Brassier
Costume design Elsa Seguier-Faucher
Assistant director Coline Fouquet
Fight choreography Émilie Guillaume
Technical direction Félicien Van Kriekinge
Stage management David Goubau / Manu Maffei
Lighting technician Nicolas Lomba
Sound technician Quentin Connan
Stage technician Basile Delaunoit
Wardrobe Emmanuelle Froidebise
Set construction Delphine Bellante, Basile Delaunoit, Jani Afar
Set painting Eugénie Obolensky
Special thanks to Théâtre Royal des Galeries (Laurent Comiant)
Co-produced by Le Vilar Louvain-la-Neuve, Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, Mars – Mons arts de la scène, Théâtre de Liège, DC&J Création
Supported by Fondazione Studio Rizoma, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles / Theatre Department, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, Province of Walloon Brabant, Belgian Federal Government Tax Shelter, Inver Tax Shelter
