Le Roi Lear

Dieudonné Niangouna takes on King Lear and projects it into another dimension: that of Kinguinzila, where theater becomes everything at once—ritual and performance.

There are the well-worn paths of conventionally “Shakespearean” productions, and then there is Dieudonné Niangouna’s Kinguinzila theater. The Congolese playwright summons King Lear through a text he translated himself.

Here, everything is created before our eyes: the performers are actors, spectators and characters; the set evolves in real time; props are made onstage; costumes double up; the lighting draws inspiration from Goya’s paintings; the music is performed live; singing and dancing enter the action; and video insinuates itself into Lear’s brain.

Text by William Shakespeare Translation, direction and set design by Dieudonné Niangouna With Roch Amedet Banzouzi, Laurent Barbot, Marie- Charlotte Biais, Linda Ikwa Masengo, Diariètou Keita, Jean Felhyt Kimbirima, Mixiana Laba, Pierre Lambla, Marcel Mankita, Mathieu Montanier, Criss Niangouna, Dieudonné Niangouna.