A group of Black performers take the stage like Muhammad Ali took the ring: floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. Boxing is a powerful metaphor for the struggle of Black people, both in the fight for equality in a white society and in the struggle of every racialized actor or actress to gain more and more space and freedom on the QC stage.
Armed with the sharp tongue of the great Congolese author Dieudonné Niangouna and energized by the explosive movements of choreographer Claudia Chan Tak, the cast brilliantly imposes the unity of a black presence and its plurality of cultures, generations, and backgrounds.
An actor prepares to take the stage to play the role of Muhammad Ali, recounting his fights, those of the boxer, such as his victory over George Foreman in Kinshasa in 1974, but above all those of the political activist, including his refusal to fight in Vietnam—a soliloquy that constantly brings the actor back to his own condition.
By turning this monologue into a multi-voiced narrative, the questions, experiences, and actions recounted take on a powerful collective dimension. In turn and in a spirit of unity, the bodies are traversed by the actor, by Ali, and by life in Quebec.
Discovery Rate (subject to access conditions)
0 $
Affordable Rates
15 $
Regular Price
30 $
Solidarity Rate
50 $
Author: Dieudonné Niangouna
Directed by: Philippe Racine and Tatiana Zinga Botao
Performers: Oumy Dembele, Vlad Alexis, Lyndz Dantiste, Martin-David Peters, Franck Sylvestre, Rodley Pitt, Widemir Normil, Philippe Racine
Assistant director and stage manager: Delphine Rochefort
Set design: Marie-Ève Fortier
Costumes, makeup, and hairstyles: Ange Blédja Kouassi
Lighting: Valérie Bourque
Sound design: Elena Stoodley
Movement advice: Claudia Chan Tak
Production management and tour management: Mathilde Boudreau and Juliette Farcy
Technical Director: Valérie Bourque
Technical direction for creation: Jean Duchesneau
Production management during creation: Martin Émond
Assistant director and stage manager: Jasmine Kamruzzaman
Thanks to the Cole Foundation, Espace le vrai monde ?, Yves Nicol, and Jonathan Charland.
Watch the trailer for the show:
This play is presented as part of our artistic program in collaboration with our four founding and resident companies.
The Théâtre de la Vieille 17 brings together theater for young people and the general public. Deeply rooted in its community, it creates sensitive and unifying works, combining acting, puppetry, and masks to move, entertain, and inspire reflection.
