The Golden Island
A collective creation by the Théâtre du Soleil under the direction of Ariane Mnouchkine, a report by Farida Ouchani, IESA lecturer and actress.
On Saturday, February 19, Taïdir OUAZINE and I organized a theater outing for IESA’s international students in the preparatory year and the Masters Years 1 and 2 in Sociocultural Mediation Policies.
We went to see the latest collective creation by the Théâtre du Soleil under the direction of Ariane MNOUCHKINE.
Before the performance, French students approached the non-French-speaking students and chatted together. I was delighted to see everyone’s efforts to communicate and make themselves understood.
Bringing together students from different fields and cultures, sparking their curiosity about one another, is something I particularly enjoy. I think it helps enrich minds, for a better grasp and understanding of others and the world. The school, in addition to the teaching it provides, is one of the best ways to open up to others.
So we went together to see the latest show by the Théâtre du Soleil: L’Île d’or. What is it about?
A sick old woman (who represents Ariane MNOUCHKINE) lies in a bed. At her bedside, a young man watches over her. She is delirious. She imagines she is in Japan. She struggles, she wants to get up but cannot, too weakened by illness (Covid?). Then, as if to ward off the fear of dying, she imagines a story, a kind of final staging. The staging of a story in a place that does not exist: the golden island. A place run by two women, the mayor and her right-hand woman. On this island, a wonderful international theater festival is to take place: "The Festival of the Luminous Present." Troupes from the four corners of the planet will take part. Money is needed to fund this festival; money is needed for some dreams, even the noblest. It is the other side of the scenery. And this is where a certain reality will emerge. A plot - because every fiction needs a conflict to resolve - will be hatched by one of the island mayor’s adversaries. This adversary wants to sell entire parts of the island to developers. Why? To build luxury hotels, spas, "wellness" venues, casinos…
It is therefore a matter of destroying ancestral sites that the island’s humble inhabitants consider sacred places. It is, in a way, a matter of letting the artificial triumph at the expense of nature. The wild nature of the land must be profitable. Here, money can either keep the festival alive or destroy everything to build artificial wellness venues that only the wealthy will be able to enjoy. The metaphor of "taking from the poor and giving to the rich" unfolds before our eyes. The question of money and the commodification of land is omnipresent in this show. But not only that.
In this collective work by the Soleil, many disasters are summoned that torment at once the planet, people, relationships and creation, through the evocation of armed conflicts that never end and others that are emerging. Each troupe carries within it the disaster of its own nation, which colors and marks its artistic work. A striking example is the Israeli-Palestinian troupe made up of a married couple (Palestinian husband and Israeli wife) who try to create together while constantly arguing, each wanting the same thing but not in the same direction and unable to do without the other. That is the situation of this part of the world perfectly illustrated. And the audience laughs because the scenes are so comical. We laugh a laugh that does us good for a moment. That of the "luminous present" of the show unfolding before our eyes. A laugh to bury the hatchet between these two peoples. For the length of the show.
We see the troupes parade by; they have limited time to create and rehearse. Time is money. Our era counts everything. Time is also running out for the island’s mayor, behind whose back the plot is hatched thanks to her "rich friend" from France. He is playing a double game; he has joined forces with a rich businessman from Brazil. Money and financial interests have no borders, no limits. No nationality is predisposed to greed. Everyone falls for the desire for the power that money provides. There is no morality left at all. Betrayals abound. There is a total absence of virtue. Meanwhile the artists, far from this turmoil taking place right next to them, keep wanting to create, again and again.
The show is full of references and details that say so much about our time, a sad, anxious, even worrying present. The phone never stops ringing. A tool that has colonized all our space, even our private lives. Here, it is a tool of conspiracy but also a link between people who love each other but are prevented from seeing one another, either by distance or because of illness. The environmental issue is addressed through the businessmen’s ecocide project. Femicide is evoked in a short scene with an impact we will not soon forget. This show is teeming with ideas. We witness theater being made within theater: sets that are assembled and taken apart before our eyes to make us witnesses to the making of fiction, reality is transcended, and we, the audience, accept and welcome the conventions of theater. And the magic works. That is the great mystery of the power of theater.
After the performance, students had the chance to talk with the show’s artists and then, quite unexpectedly, with the director. Some were upset by what they had seen during the show and did not hesitate to call out Ariane MNOUCHKINE, herself!
That is the successful bet of bringing people together, of creating intense moments of discussion, sharing and exchange. Seeing students express their incomprehension and disagreement over how certain topics in the show were handled is a good thing. My role as a lecturer at IESA is also to encourage young people to go and see works that question, shows that disturb. It lets them exercise their critical thinking and sharpen their arguments, and also contributes to educating citizens aware of the stakes of culture in every human society. Let us end with these few words from Hélène Cixous’s text, as an introduction to the Golden Island
"The Festival?! At the mere word, the people of Stupidity and War rally. Happiness?
How awful!
The Festival? No! No festival! Anything but theater, that is, the paths to freedom, and not traded on the stock market. "
Farida OUCHANI, February 2022
