Theatre and cinema are fused together in this play in which the author and protagonist tells of his childhood in the Congo, with a cinema-obsessed father, a teacher by profession, who shows him hundreds of films, among which are his favourites, those about kung-fu.
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Teatro Grassi
Theatre and cinema are woven together in this show in which the author and protagonist tells of his childhood in the Congo, with his father, a teacher, obsessed with the cinema. Professor Niangouna took many VHS cassettes with him from France to Africa, films of every genre to watch with his son, with the hope of turning him into a cineaste.
Among the films, the young boy’s favourites were the ones on kung-fu. His father promised to send him to China to learn the techniques from the Shaolin monks. They would then have made Congolese kung-fu films. Professor Niangouna died before carrying out his project; Dieudonné did not become a cinema director, but a man of the theatre. Cinema, in any case, allowed him to “do his kung-fu”, a voyage between fantasy and reality which every fan of the seventh art makes, starting with the images from the films which have accompanied the events of a life.
Duration: 1 hour and 55 minutes
Theatre and cinema are woven together in this show in which the author and protagonist tells of his childhood in the Congo, with his father, a teacher, obsessed with the cinema. Professor Niangouna took many VHS cassettes with him from France to Africa, films of every genre to watch with his son, with the hope of turning him into a cineaste.
Among the films, the young boy’s favourites were the ones on kung-fu. His father promised to send him to China to learn the techniques from the Shaolin monks. They would then have made Congolese kung-fu films. Professor Niangouna died before carrying out his project; Dieudonné did not become a cinema director, but a man of the theatre. Cinema, in any case, allowed him to “do his kung-fu”, a voyage between fantasy and reality which every fan of the seventh art makes, starting with the images from the films which have accompanied the events of a life.
Duration: 1 hour and 55 minutes
Credits
Piccolo Teatro Grassi
2 an 3 Octobrer 2015
Le Kung-Fu
written, directed, and performed by Dieudonné Niangouna
sets by Dieudonné Niangouna
artistic collaboration Laetitia Ajanohun
lighting by Laurent Vergnaud; video by Wolfgang Korewin
technical direction and sound by Nicolas Barrot
with the participation of Matthieu Pastore
production by Léa Couqueberg on the occasion of Expo 2015
and as part of the artistic season “La Francia in scena”
this show has been coproduced with Le Grand Gardon Blanc, Piccolo Teatro di Milano-Teatro d’Europa, with the support of the Ambasciata di Francia in Italia, Institut français d'Italie, Institut français, Fondazione Nuovi Mecenati, Sacem, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication de France, Commission Européenne
in French with Italian subtitles