Belgium, 1999. Two teenagers frozen to death are found in the landing gear of a plane from Guinea. A letter is found on their bodies in which the two refugees justify their exile. Inspired by this tragic news item, the Guinean writer and theater maker Hakim Bah and director Diane Chavelet created A Bout de Sueurs. A poetic performance about people who are looking for a better life.

A Bout du Sueurs is a tragedy about the mirage of migration and exile. It is the descent to hell by a family perishing from adultery, marital violence and alienation. The main character is Binta somewhere in the South. She meets a childhood friend who introduces her to dating sites. Binta leaves her abusive husband Bachir and leaves for France to meet a date. Bachir follows her to Paris and abandons their children. These decide to travel to their mother in Paris which leads to their death in the landing gear of an airplane. Bachir cannot bear the loss of his wife and children and puts an end to his life.

The characters in A Bout du Sueur are lonely figures who meet and avoid each other and hope for a better life. The setting is a hall of an airport, with a musician who like a Cerberus guards the ‘passage’ from one world to another. The characters never cross the line between those two worlds. Their human condition is to remain trapped and unreachable in a world they cannot leave,  longing for a world they cannot reach.

Hakim Bah received the Lucernaire – Laurent Terzieff et Pascale de Boysson prize (from Société des Authors et Compositeurs Dramatiques and Éditions l’Harmattan) for his gripping text.

‘A Bout de Sueurs shows what mainstream theater is missing’ (New York Times).

Credits

Text:                       Hakim Bah
Director:               Hakim Bah & Diane Chavelet
Actors:                   Hakim Bah, Diarietou Keita, Claudia Mongumu
Live music:           Victor Pitoiset
Light design:       Gabriele Smiriglia
Production:          Compagnie Paupières Mobiles / Jay Levent
Language:            French with subtitling
Length:                  80 min