L’hôte is a play written and performed by Issaka Zallé, a young actor from Burkina Faso. It’s a nearly 50-minute monologue that transports you to the story of Kongoza Ali, a war veteran who has become melancholy and who has been adopted by the streets. The piece was created in Germany under the supervision of Katarina Oberlik and revived in Burkina Faso under the direction of Charles Tiendrebeogo.
While the public takes place, we observe a sifted shower on the character. He is sitting on a chair made up with paper newspapers. The character wears a gray blouse, a white underbody and high-heeled shoes. He warms himself around the fire which is lit near him. Therefore, everything suggests that we are in the street. Then, suddenly, he gets up very slowly, walks towards the audience and then says: “Hello to you the community for having made the trip for this monthly meeting…”.
In this monologue interpreted by Issaka Zallé, several characters will be summoned. First, the central character of the play, named Kongoza Ali, a former member of the special forces who was traumatized by the various wars on the battlefield. Still dragging his after-effects, finally it is in the street that he finds his peace of mind. “The street is the only faithful to the post”, he said. “She doesn’t judge you, she doesn’t condemn you. Everything that society rejects, the street welcomes, he adds.
Then, through the character of the old Mirabelle, Issaka highlights the conflicts of generations where sometimes we make the choice to get rid of the elderly by transferring them to retirement homes. Mirabelle’s family decided that she had become too old and that she had to be transferred to a retirement home. To avoid suffering this decision, she finally decided to be adopted by the streets.
In the character of the madman, Issaka wanted to reveal certain clichés observed in society where some are victims of stereotypes and marginalization because of their difference, their choice of life, their opinion, etc. He says : ” humans, when someone doesn’t eat like them, doesn’t drink like them, doesn’t sleep like them, then he’s crazy! “.
With the role of the influencer, the actor wanted to depict what social networks have become today. A space where everyone claims to be an influencer. Where the younger generation is ready to go in absolute terms to please on social networks. The virtual world has now become the real life of some people.
In the last fifteen minutes of the play, Kongoza Ali’s character is summoned by a mask that forces him to wear it. Intoxicated by the wealth and glory of material good, the mask reminds him that he has lost the essential values. The part of the mask marks the return to the source where the ancestors are always with him in a spiritual fight which is shown by the actor who reminds him of the values of his family. Values such as the ecology of the sacred, totemism, equality between men and women, etc.
Eventually, the character of Ali Kongoza will make peace with his ancestors. The mask gives him a special power. With the ancestors at his side, he will have the opportunity to predict the future of the spectators present.
This show will soon be programmed in the various theaters and cultural spaces in Burkina Faso. It is a spectacle that you will have to see to discover the multiple facets of the artistic creativity that result from it.