Salut Copain

Where is home? An upstairs room with a blazing fire? Or a cell in a psychiatric hospital? Both, for Daniil Charms [1905-1942], Russia’s greatest absurdist writer. His skull simply glowed with creative drive, but he died in a mental institution after Stalin had had him declared insane.
In her powerful stage monologue Salut Copain the Flemish-Algerian theatre maker Dounia Mahammed [Brussels, 1990] interweaves texts by Charms with some of her own musings. Making optimum use of language to encircle the everyday, until it capitulates and admits to its oddity. Dounia philosophises, dreams and questions, going to and fro between despair and surprise. A powerful show – five stars in Theaterkrant – about the importance of letting the absurd be absurd.

Performed by: Dounia Mahammed