The Salle Niangoran Porquet at Abidjan’s Palais de la Culture played host to Benin’s first show on Sunday April 14th. Performer and actress Cybelinede Souza took to the stage alone, to denounce a current and prevalent phenomenon: violence against women.

By Yves-Patrick Loko

The show « Que nos voix résonnent » ended to thunderous applause. The captivated audience was shocked by the subject at the heart of the performance. « I had tears in my eyes, » confided Marcel, one of the spectators in the Oval Room.

A plaintive yet hopeful voice in the background is the final act of the performance. The voice recounts her misfortunes as an abused woman. It was after this that the actress, who had just finished a 75-minute performance alone on stage, entered a female cavity, a womb projected onto paper.

The female genitalia was also projected from the control room, to convince the audience that it was indeed a woman who was the subject of the drama portrayed on the board. « There’s nothing erotic about it, » reassures Cybeline.

The décor is sober at first. At the end, it gives way to a bit of a mess. Torn paper, but also neatly arranged women’s outfits. The chiaroscuro, which reveals a troubled, evasive gaze right from the start of the show, hints at the seriousness of the subject at the heart of the performance. A woman scarred by her life partner, a wife abused by her husband, and a mother with a bruised heart. This lament to female abuse is a true story. A piece of the life of actress Cybeline de Souza’s mother. A mother who is a victim of domestic violence.

For catharsis, to forget, but above all to draw attention to the phenomenon, Cybeline wanted to speak out. But first, she put her words down on paper. A vast text, it was revisited and corrected several times over a period, taking its final form after several drafts and versions.

Without being a field activist, Cybeline de Souza has nonetheless conducted activism in the theater. She joins the ranks of activists working for gender and human rights. The show « Que nos voix résonnent » (Let our voices resonate) was a mix of sound, light and physical expression, to put an end to abuses against women. The Place Ficgayo in Yopougon will once again host this performance next Wednesday. 

Trained at the Ecole Internationale de Théâtre du Bénin (Eitb), Cybeline de Souza holds a degree in Theatrical Art and Technique. She has been performing on national and international stages for over ten years, and also practices traditional and contemporary dance, which she also regularly interweaves on stage with theater. Cybelline de Souza also studied at the AccademiaTeatro Dimitri in Switzerland, as part of a masters program.