M’appelle Mohamed Ali

A group of black performers take over the stage like Muhammad Ali took over the ring: flying like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. Boxing is a wonderful metaphor for the fight of Black people, both in a fight for equality in a white society and in the fight of any racialized actor or actress to increasingly take their place. and his freedom on Quebec stages. Armed with the sharp language of the immense Congolese author Dieudonné Niangouna, energized by the explosive gestures of the 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 enter the stage to play the role of MohamedAli, recounting his fights, those of the boxer, such as his victory against George Foreman in Kinshasa in 1974, but especially those of the political activist, including his refusal to go fighting in Vietnam – a soliloquy which constantly brings the actor back to his own condition.

By making this monologue a story of several voices, the questions, lived experiences and actions recounted there take on a powerful collective magnitude. In turn and in a spirit of unity, the bodies find themselves crossed by the actor, by Ali and by life in Quebec.

This performance is in French with English surtitles on the 3:00 PM show of April 6th, 2024.