Brrr Production is a Senegalese theatre company based in Dakar. It produces a range of artistic projects with local and international players, alternating between original creations and awareness-raising theatre. The company is committed to theatre that tackles political and social issues, while emphasising the artistic dimension of its work.
Brrr Production’s plays are written and directed by Bérengère Brooks, a Franco-British artist trained in the UK who has been living in Africa for nearly fifteen years. A graduate of the Théâtre de l’Opprimé in Paris, she has extensive experience as a facilitator for Theatre for Development, and runs awareness-raising theatre projects in partnership with international and local NGOs, working with disadvantaged populations. Her latest productions in East and West Africa have tackled the themes of precariousness in large African cities, violence against women (De l’importance d’être d’accord, 2017), migration (D’où tu vas!, 2016), and the influence of the Internet and social networks on the notion of identity in Africa (Liking, 2018).
The Le débat residency was an opportunity for Bérengère Brooks to deliver a workshop for the Gambia Union of Theatre (GAMUT). Centred on the exploration and embodiment of characters, the various exercises enabled the sixteen participants to see how to work on the individual construction of a character, while at the same time becoming part of a collective.
The residency continued with a performance of the play Le Débat, written and directed by Bérengère Brooks. The company’s six actors told the story of a couple debating polygamy. Through this play, Brrr Production seeks to take a closer look at couples’ relationships, the relationship between young people and marriage and polygamy in particular, the place of women in society, and the family, social and friendly pressures that push each of us to make and question our own choices. It’s a way of highlighting, with humour, the contradictions of our society.