Africa premiere
Performance in French

By Joelle Sambi
Belgium-RDC

Maison Chaos is a work woven with engaging poetry, slam, lyrical singing, electronic music, and soundscapes that map the traces left on the body, land, and memory by misogynistic violence.

The harsh words of Joëlle Sambi’s burning poetry collide with these traces, exposing and laying them bare. They narrate the besieged skin, the bumpy road, the brewing anger, the stifled voice, the victim, whether good or bad, or the one we do not want to be. They question the troubled waters and the endless cycle of patriarchy: first “he,” and only later “she,” the appropriation of skins, the enclave of minds, cyclical violence, the vastness of silence, indifference, chaos. Where is the way out of these traps and dead ends, the exit from the mess? Where is the place of tranquility? “There is only our body-territories, a place of struggle, a space of combat from which we survive,” declares Joëlle with her sharp pen that strips and broadens our vision. “Speak to destroy and rebuild. Speak to start over and act.” Whether they are intimate, geographic, or mental, the paths of survival are unique, filled with cracks and perhaps salvation.

“There are firefly breakthroughs in my memory. They do not illuminate me, they blind me. They are the flame that keeps me alive. I do not forget. Not a single detail, however blurry. A woman’s body is a territory.”

Conception, Writing, and Direction: Joëlle Sambi

Scenography and Set Design: Antigone Aristidou & Livia Loprete

With: Raphaële Green, Sara Machine

Music & Sound: Sara Machine (Magali Gruselle)

Direction Assistant: Maya Lombard

Dramaturge: Meryl Moens

Masks: Bky Walden

Création lumière et régie générale: Lou Van Egmond de la collective la CLaM

Sound: Edith Herregods

External Advisors: Rebecca Chaillon, Axel Cornil, Alexandra Dols, Anne Festraets & Myriam Monheim

Production: Théâtre de Namur

Co-production: Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, Central La Louvière.

In Co-production with: La Coop Asbl et Shelter Prod

With Support from taxshelter.be, ING and the Belgian government’s tax-shelter, Joliette à Marseille et workshops, costumes, et set from Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles