A cross-border opera for four dancers and a rapper

Barbarije was the name for the coastal areas of North Africa. The region is seen as a land of outcasts, a refuge for westerners or African populations in search of migration. This situation causes political, demographic, economic and religious tension.

What do you do when you suddenly have to flee from your homeland ? For Barbaresques Christophe Piret and his Théâtre de Chambre let themselves be inspired by stories from Algeria. Piret and his assistant Karim Zaoui set out on a first journey to the North African country in November 2016. There they met with the people with whom they would execute the project , investigated into the structures behind the local sensitivities and gathered testimonies about the migration question.

The performance Barbaresques imagines a metaphoric land in a tense society. This dream journey through space and time, which strikes us as very eastern, is told in alexandrines, as required in a traditional epic. Five protagonists mix dance and music, slam and video, driven by the necessity to move. Together they form a utopian community, in which cultures and styles meet without lapsing into mutual stereotypes.

Christophe Piret is the artistic leader of the Théâtre de Chambre – 232U, which was founded in 1987 in the North French Aulnoye-Aymeries. Contrary to what its name leads one to suspect, the company likes to air the thinking and to look across the own borders. The Théâtre de Chambre is very committed in its environment and has organised militant and artistic actions with the most divergent population groups for decades. Moreover, the company doesn't limit itself to theatre but they also go to prisons, factories, village squares, secondary schools. The performances are inspired by the language and the daily tragedies of the people involved, who are often amateurs.