“When we were playing there, our families weren’t aware of it”
Since mid-September, a theater troupe composed of Afghan actresses arrived in Lyon. Welcomed by the TNG and the TNP, these young women and their director had to flee Kabul when the Taliban arrived. Before the Sens Interdits festival, they told us their story.
There is a little fatigue in the eyes this Sunday afternoon, at the Théâtre des Ateliers, rue du Petit-David (Lyon 2nd). This October 17, nine young Afghan artists gathered for the Sens Interdits theater festival in Lyon. All smiles, they pat their arms to show that they received the Covid-19 vaccine the day before. “Second dose,” one of them jokes.
Speaking for a few words in English, they also try to express themselves with a few words of French. Arrived in France in mid-September, these young women in their twenties (see less) began to learn every morning. In the afternoon, they meet in residence to do theater.
In Kabul, “men must play the roles of female characters”
Quickly, we find ourselves with three of them and their director, ahead of a conference organized by the festival. From the start of the discussions, their humor, almost childish, disappears to let a serious air settle.
Through the help of Daoud, an Afghan immigrant translator who fled the arrival of the Russians in the 1980s, the troupe tells us their story in Dari (Afghan Persian), one of the most widely spoken languages in this multi-ethnic country – with the Pashto. A story that begins with that of the award initiative by the director, Naim.
“When we started playing in Kabul, we trained in a tent, next to a container,” he recalls. But after a while, we were able to train at the French cultural center. ”
At 31, the young man is the oldest of the troupe and the founder of the “Kabul Girls Theater Group. ”A graduate of Fine Arts, he wants to return in his creations to“ the difficulties of Afghan society ”.
“When I started my art studies, we didn’t play with women,” he recalls. For some plays, men played the roles of female characters. ”
Afghan actresses: “When we played, our families did not know”
After his studies, he began to work and intervene in different schools. Its objective then: to help, through the theater, the pupils to avoid violence and to privilege the word to the blows.
“In Afghanistan, a lot of violence is the result of ongoing struggles between different ethnic groups,” he says. Our goal was to fight this. ”
It is through this that they meet the young girls. In 2015, he launched this troupe project with one objective: to make theater for women.
“Back then, when we were playing plays, our families didn’t know about it,” says 18-year-old Fresha. It was very hard to work. We had to convince them to let us do it. Then when they found out what it really was, they came over to see us play. ”
Quickly, pieces start to come together. The troupe plays on feast days around Kabul, with a welcome, sometimes dismayed. In the city, seeing your daughter in a play can be considered a “shame.” ”
“At first, people were rather suspicious,” Fresha continues. Then, when they saw that we were playing on important issues, they supported us. ”
Place of women, drug addiction… Pieces to “change Afghan customs”
When Naim is asked for the name of a piece he wanted to put on, he replies, in English, “To be or not to be”. Like a strong symbol, Hamlet, Shakespeare’s play “That There Is Something Rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark,” is one of the first to be performed by the troupe in a country plagued by violence.
For the young man, the reflection of Hamlet, hero of this tragedy, in front of a skull wondering “to be or not to be, such is the question”, is shared by many Afghans.
“Everyone is asking this question in Afghanistan and wondering ‘Why’? “
But the team will also play Misunderstanding, Albert Camus and creations.
“With us, there are a lot of drug addicts,” resumes, for example, Shegofa, “So we put on a play called Zombies. The idea was to show people that they shouldn’t end up like this. ”
At 21, the young woman is one of the oldest in the group. In a calm and serene tone, this student explains that she wanted to show through their example that the Afghans were capable of doing theater, of… And of choosing only housework.
From Kabul to Lyon: “The Taliban went faster than the French administration”
An experience brutally stopped by the advance of the Taliban. With the announcement of the reconquest of the provinces by Islamic fundamentalists, the actresses stop playing. Impossible for them to continue to practice their art.
In France, a network is being set up to welcome Afghan artists at the artist’s initiative Kubra Khademi. In Lyon, several structures from the theater world are active. The NPT (National People’s Theater) and the TNG (New Generation Theater) are part of it.
“In July, we started to take steps to welcome artists. We have launched visa applications in order to accommodate them in residence, explains Joris Mathieu, director of the TNG. Unfortunately, the Taliban went faster than the French administration. ”
The day the Taliban entered Kabul, the troop receives by email a summons to the French embassy. Unfortunately, France has no way of going after them. “It was a mousetrap,” regrets Joris Mathieu, returning to the event, during a conference with the actresses.
In the Afghan capital, where Taliban fighters constantly circulate, it will take them four days to reach the airport. Without going into details, they simply declare a photo of the crowd at the gates of the latter. These images, known, may suggest difficulties in leaving the premises.
Arrived in Lyon in mid-September, they have since started the process to be recognized as refugees. Most of them had their appointment at the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra) to finalize their asylum application. They are accommodated in apartments with the support of the TNG, the TNP and the help of the Cities of Lyon and Villeurbanne.
Plays in Lyon to show that “Afghanistan is not a terrorist country”
More than two months after the capture of Kabul by the Taliban, they have resumed work. After French as a foreign language (FLE) lessons in the morning, they work in studios made available by theaters in the afternoon.
In 2022, they want to set up a photo exhibition on the lives of Afghans. They also want to put on a play about life in their country ten years ago.
“Afghanistan is not a country of terrorists, and this is what we want to show”, continues Naim, director.
Through this work, the actresses also want to pursue digital exchanges with their country. Pieces will be shown to friends and families who have stayed behind.
“Anything that we couldn’t do in Afghanistan, I will do in Lyon,” says Shegofa, 21. Physically, I am there. But my thoughts are over there. ”
By welcoming them, Lyon’s theaters at least have this opportunity.