Out of Africa: Festival of Lies at On the Boards

As a soukous band plays and the audience noshes on couscous, red rice, and chicken, all doused with a hearty amount of spicy peanut sauce, a man sways to the music while carrying a fluorescent light to the center of the floor. We whisper to our companion for the evening, "I think it's started."

Festival of Lies is the powerful Seattle debut of Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula and his company Les Studios Kabako. The mainstage of On the Boards is set up as a nightclub in Kinshasa, with tables abutting the stage, music by Wawali Bonane—one of the Congo's premiere musicians, who happens to currently live in Tacoma—and plates of food ($10) courtesy of Jacques Sarr, former owner of Belltown's Afrikando. Besides the nightclub set-up, the stage is sparse, with only the aforementioned light fixtures, a chair, some benches, propaganda pamphlets, and the occasional pile of disembodied babydolls.

The performance itself tells the story of the cast's homeland through music, personal vignettes, political speeches (delivered via recordings, the English translations of which are projected onto the walls), and movement. Festival of Lies is amongst the most straight-forward performance art we've ever seen, and for that we are eternally grateful. Why bother with obscure metaphor when you can lampoon or represent directly? Throughout the piece, the three male performers carry out jerky dance moves that manage to be both spastic and fluid. At times, they move on top of or against each other, head to head, impeding progress, as if to signify political clusterfuck. Other times, they hold each other's face in seemingly a gesture of comfort that quickly turns to violence, throwing their partner to the ground. In the work's most striking (and well-choreographed) moment, the men strip each other mid-air, picking one performer up only to take off an article of clothing and drop him. They then go on to perform most of the rest of the piece in their skivvies. Nearly naked, the lithe cast lay bare the realities of war, politics, and daily life in Zaire and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Thru Sat 12/1 // 7pm doors and food, 8pm show // On the Boards // 100 W Roy St // $24

Photo - Agathe Poupeney