Room He calls me Muhammad Ali Takes place on Friday at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (DNM). A monologue written by Congolese writer Dieudonné Niangouna adapted into a song for eight performers increases the scope of its cutting message tenfold in the different battles black people wage between the ring and the stage.
The monologue written by Dieudonné Niangouna in 2014 was adapted for an actor, Burkinabe actor Étienne Minoungou, from whom the main character is strongly inspired. In the stage adaptation signed by Philippe Racine and Tatiana Zinga Potao from the Théâtre de la Sentinelle, he is augmented by eight Afro-descendant actors.
So we see Vlad Alexis, Lyndz Dantiste, Fayolle Jean Jr., Rodley Pitt, Franck Sylvestre, Widemir Normil, Martin-David Peters and Philippe Racine on stage. Actress Omi Dembele plays the mother who brings all the artists together. He also works as a technical director on stage.
Nine performers of the play “M'appelle Mohammed Ali” in 2022 (the English major, far left, was replaced by Philippe Racine at TNM, while Tatiana Zinga Potao was replaced by Omi Dembele)
Photo: Theater du Nouveau Monde / Yanick Macdonald
Today, in Quebec, we decided to do a song to show that there are many Etienne and Dieudonne. It is not true that there is only one black actor, there are many. There, we have 8 people, but we could have been 35, sums up Tatiana Zinga Potao. We wanted to show that apart from being black and actors, we are very different.
He calls me Muhammad Ali First presented at the TransAmérique festival in 2022, then at the Théâtre de Quat'Sous, where Lorraine Pintal, artistic and general director of TNM, fell in love with the play. He invited Philippe Racine and Tatiana Zinga Potao to come and present at his company.
A serious piece in content and form
The screen opens as Etienne prepares to play the famous boxer and black rights activist Muhammad Ali in the theater. The social struggles of a three-time world champion intersect with the social struggles of a black actor trying to shine in a predominantly white world.
The actor is in his dressing room seconds before going on stage, and there, time suddenly expands and we get inside his head, everything that drives him to play Muhammad Ali.
Philippe Racine explains.
He draws this parallel between Muhammad Ali's inspiration in his social struggles and his own aspirations to be an African actor in a Western world in Western drama. How does he fit in there?
The one-and-a-half-hour play relies heavily on the intensity of physical performance to match the text, relentlessly, thanks to the work of choreographer Claudia San Tak. We talk about boxing, but we don't want to make them boxers, explains Tatiana Zinga Potau. But there's something very vibrant about the text, so it took on very physical moments where we get to the end.
Teudone Nyangona, Michel Tremblay from the Congo
Better known in Europe than on this side of the Atlantic, Teuton Nyong'ona is a veritable literary star in his native Republic of the Congo. He is Michael Tremblay of the Congo. He was the last to put the word Congo on stage
Tatiana explains around the two of them.
Dieudonné Niangoun is a playwright, director and actor, born in Brazzaville, Congo.
Photo: AFP / Anne-Christine Boujoulet via Getty Images
As a Congolese who grew up in Belgium, it was a dream to direct Dieudone Nyong'ona's text.
Adds the Associate Director.
I studied with Philippe at the Montreal Conservatory of Dramatic Art, and we studied many teachers, but it was very Eurocentric. We wanted to show that there were also great writers in North Africa or Haiti. […] Theater is not only a European tradition.
An excerpt from the play “My Name is Muhammad Ali”.
Photo: Theater du Nouveau Monde / Yanick Macdonald
A A tough debate
with the public
Upon discovering the works of Dieudonné Niangouna, Tatiana Zinga Botao and Philippe Racine were marked by the foregrounding aspect of his texts, and it seemed important to them not to soften them for their adaptation. The The n-word
True to its author's words has been mentioned several times.
We don't hide, we don't censor ourselves. Words, though hurtful and loaded, are also tools for humans to give themselves meaning, explains Philippe Racine. I use this word very rarely, but it's written by someone who feels it's necessary, and it's my job as an actor and artist to respect it, say it, don't distort it.
Actors of the play “My Name is Muhammad Ali”.
Photo: Theater du Nouveau Monde / Yanick Macdonald
The director knows that the play will not be equally accepted by all audiences, but this is precisely the conversation that Tatiana wanted to start with Zinga Podao.
The fight is metaphorical, we are not fighting civilians. But the idea of a tough conversation is still there. We may or may not agree, but the goal is to still be able to talk.
He calls me Muhammad Ali Presented at TNM from 23rd February to 3rd March. Tickets are sold on the theater website.
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