Combining music, oral tradition and animated images

The project consists of staging and setting to music the poetic nature of René Maran's novel Batouala using a variety of artistic means: musical composition and animated images, drawing on the expressive power of the original text.

It is a tribute paid by the performing arts to the literary beauty of Batouala, whose narrative inspires projection and identification in the reader's mind. This literary quality is so strong that it cannot be distorted; the original text must be preserved. René Maran's work is meant to be spoken, not interpreted. The project will therefore not consist of a classic theatrical adaptation. Through music and dialogue with the text, it will seek to capture the heart of Central African culture, its sensitivity and humanity.

The show must convey the spirit of the story to the audience. Spectators will be taken on a journey of discovery alongside René Maran, a stranger to the world he observes but empathetic, confronted with a civilisation that he considers far more noble than that taught in the empire's prestigious schools.

The combination of music, oral tradition and images aims to preserve the novel's movement and oral fluidity, in keeping with the oral tradition of the culture celebrated by the colonial administrator.

The show is intended to be presented as part of the programmes of major theatre and music institutions and also, in a lighter form, to reach school audiences, whether in France, Belgium or the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, but also in French-speaking African countries, particularly in schools where the work of René Maran is taught.