Our House is a co-production between Ishyo Arts Centre (Kigali, Rwanda) and Helios Theatre (Hamm, Germany). It was directed by Barbara Kolling and Carole Karemera.
Each story is told visually and figuratively through the words, questions, movements and music of the Storytellers who build houses onstage, continuously recreating the space to transport the audience to different times, countries and places.
Audience members are invited onto the stage, encircling the performance space and encouraging an intimate setting that is enriched by the unity of the Storytellers’ ensemble.
The five Storytellers, Herve Kimenyi, Helena Alijona Kuhn, Michael Lurse, Eliane Umuhire and Marko Werner, begin the performance by walking onstage with a roll of carpet draped over their shoulders. Slowly, they create the image of a house while disjointedly stating, “I was born. I was born in a house. I was born in a house, in a neighbourhood. I was born in a house, in a neighbourhood, in a city…”
The Storytellers’ train journey from Russia to Germany is brought to life by the collective movement and sounds of the ensemble, with live music accompaniment by Herve Twahirwa. Rhythmic footsteps that sound like an old steam train increase in pace as the Storytellers carry the audience to another place and time.
During the second to last story, a Storyteller picks up a figurine to help him tell the tale, while all the storytellers pick up their own figurine and a small house. Only on closer inspection is it apparent that the figurines are miniature versions of the Storytellers themselves. The messy pile of carpets and sticks in the background embody the destruction caused by the bombing of a home, earlier in the performance.
This final image of a house mirrors the beginning of the performance with the addition of a visibly reinforced structure, welcoming symmetric carpets and the thoughtful gaze of the six miniature figurines who watch the audience slowly exit.
