Spanish premiere Country:Switzerland Language: French (with Spanish subtitles) Approx duration: 1hr 10 mins (no interval)
The two actors are delightful, combining humour and tension in this work which subtly transforms itself into a philosophical tale
- Michel Caspary, 24 Heures
Is this really fate? Through no fault of their own, two men find themselves imprisoned. They are not in a damp cellar or some shed with a locked door but in a luxurious house ironically named Paradise Villa. They ended up being trapped because, in their home country, the dictator who owns the property has been overthrown. They therefore have no legal status, no money and are thousands of kilometres from their homeland in a forced exile. So they set about organising their survival and establishing a new objective in life. They cling to words and try to imagine a future but, above all, slipping further and further away from the real world, they invent their own reality - a combination of mirrors and masks where they lose their reference points, a routine which oscillates between conflict and double act, a small theatre of power haunted by the figure of the Marshal, the tyrant whose evil rule had manipulated their people and even history.
- René Zahnd
Bab and Sane are bodyguards at the mansion of an African dictator. When he is overthrown they do not know what to do or where to go and stay holed up inside. In the beginning they play with words as one plays with reality, using a lot of humour, until fears and questions begin to surface. Based on a real story, Bab et Sane was written by René Zahnd for the two actors who play the parts, Habib Dembelé and Hassane Kouyate. It recalls the figure of Mobutu, the tyrant who controlled at will a Zaire ruled by injustice and economic chaos and indulged by the western powers.