With an open heart tells a difficult, dramatic… and necessary story: the assassination of an investigative journalist. On Friday September 27, this text by Cameroonian Éric Delphin Kwégoué, awarded the RFI Théâtre 2023 prize, had its world premiere at the Festival des Francophonies in Limoges. Interview with the author who also signed the very ambitious production at the Théâtre de l’Union.
RFI : How did you receive the public’s reactions after this premiere of your play With an open heart ?
Eric Delphin Kwégoué : We didn’t expect this enthusiasm. There were people who laughed, the spectators were very happy, we got very good feedback…
With an open heartit’s a story based on real events, a story about a journalist murdered, about another journalist threatened and in general about freedom of expression in danger. A year ago, the distinction of your play with the RFI Théâtre prize focused mainly on political, theatrical fiction. But over the past year, there have been many other journalists murdered. With your piece, were you a little ahead of our times? ?
Yes, it’s true. I wrote the piece in February and March 2023, because in January 2023, a famous journalist, Martinez Zogo, was assassinated in my country, in Cameroon. It was not the first, but the fifth journalist who was assassinated. And I have a lot of friends who are journalists. Just after this assassination, they called on me a lot to tell me that we cannot live in our country because of the mistreatment and assassination of journalists. With With an open heartI wanted to speak loudly of the words of my journalist friends. But that does not prevent us from living in a dictatorial regime. But when we remain silent, we are complicit.
Also readÉric Delphin Kwégoué, RFI Théâtre 2023 prize, in a word, a gesture and a silence
This world premiere takes place in France, because it is not possible to stage such a show in Cameroon. But the reality described in your piece is not reserved for Cameroon. The most spectacular and high-profile example is Gaza, where, according to Reporters Without Borders, more than 130 journalists have been killed by Israeli strikes since October 7, 2023: “ At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza, there will soon be no one left to inform you. » Do you think that people in France and Europe today feel more concerned by what you say in your play? ?
Yes, I think the world is one. Even if sometimes people in countries are unaware of what is happening elsewhere. When events occur back home, they come to understand the importance of certain events taking place in other countries. I’m talking about Cameroon, but in many countries in Africa, journalists are really in great danger. When I show this piece, it is to talk about journalists around the world.
A year ago, the RFI Théâtre prize awarded an author’s text. Today, we looked at the creation of a director, with sound creation, video creation, lighting creation, costumes, faces, bodies… Your text and your staging of the text, these are two different realities ?
Yes, I think that the text is one reality, and the staging another reality. This is why, when I decided to direct this text, I, as an author, said to myself that it was important that I be able to be accompanied by a playwright, because the text is 2h30 and I wanted a show of 1h30. And it is sometimes very difficult for an author to cut his own text. It’s important for the director, at a given moment, to distance himself from his work, because otherwise you will let the emotion emerge.
Also readCameroonian Éric Delphin Kwégoué, winner of the 2023 RFI Theater Prize for “À coeur Ouvert”
A big difference between the show and the text is the projected images. : actors filmed live, images created or video extracts from a real popular uprising… What changes with your author’s language when you transform your words into visual language ?
For me, it’s very important, because we live today in a world of images. We are in a real world of images, more and more. It is also a nod to our current world, the fact that I chose to integrate the video. In the direction, as in the text, we are in a bit of a thriller. I also wanted to make a nod to cinema, that’s why there are credits at the end. We’re not used to seeing that in the theater. So I wanted to make this nod to the image, to the world of cinema, in the process of directing.
You have worked in theater for a very long time, you are an author, actor, performer, director. In September 2023, you received the RFI Théâtre prize. What has happened since then for the artist and creator that you are? ?
I started theater in 2000, so that’s 24 years of profession and for three years, I have been officially installed in France with my family, because my wife was posted to France. For us, authors from the African continent, the RFI Théâtre prize is a bit like the Holy Grail of authors, the greatest consecration that an African author can have. Thanks to this award, I was able to anchor myself in French society, in a certain number of networks that were not accessible before. Since then, my career has taken a leap forward.
► With an open hearttext and direction by Éric Delphin Kwégoué, creation presented on September 27 and 28, 2024 at the Théâtre de l’Union in Limoges as part of the Festival des Francophonies, the Autumn Zébrures which take place from September 25 to October 5, 2024.