Guilt Trip - February 19
Posted by Bruce Norris on 2/27/2006Some parts you can’t make up. So it turns out that, little did I know, I have been in Benin in the middle of the International Beninese Theatre Festival (!!??!!); or FITHEB. I saw a poster one day and no one at the hotel knew anything about it and finally after asking around a woman at a bookstore directed me to the CCF (Centre Cuturel Francais) where I found out that last night’s performance, and this is possibly TOO weird, was RICHARD III, that’s right (Maintenant c’est l’hiver du nos discontent…. etc.), performed in French with an entirely West African cast (and one hambone of a white Swiss guy), outdoors, in modern-dress with a kind of “gangster” theme, accompanied by a live musician playing traditional instruments. I managed, basically through sign language, to get a ticket. Remarkable, in a way - and let’s not get TOO misty here - to see how a play travels through huge distances of space and time. I can’t say it was the absolute best theatre I have ever seen, but absolutely the most interesting theatre story. And now I can write off my trip on next year’s taxes.
This morning I took a bush taxi into Lome, Togo, and experienced a tiny bit of a hassle at the border. Luckily, two of my cabmates were from Ghana (where they speak English!!) and they helped me through the whole thing. I can’t see much to make me stick around in Togo, so tomorrow I’ll press on to Ghana. This whole experience continues to be a lesson for me in how not to be a complete coward. As the border guard was going through my luggage I felt the urge to panic (my default move in many unfamiliar situations) and checked it. Must remember that back home.