30 actresses on stage for a lively and powerful reef. 30 prisoners of the dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970s. “30 Somos” resonates with current events and takes on its full meaning during performances on March 11 and 12, in the former cells used by the Gestapo in Lyon during the occupation.
Thirty actresses revisit a true story on stage, that of 30 women aged 14 to 65 and detained under the Argentinian dictatorship of Videla in the late 1970s. A story of solidarity and resistance. A performance, high in symbols, within the Center for the History of the Resistance and the Deportation of Lyon.
An international show imagined by the Lyon company The Three-Eight, directed and directed by Sylvie Mongin-Algan. After Lyons, 30 Somos (We are 30) will be presented at the Queen Sofia Museum in Madrid on May 17, then in Ecuador and Argentina next September.
In French, Spanish, German or sign language, the actresses embody resistance, disobedience to oppression. In the jails of Argentina, these women had developed a strong solidarity. To be united so as not to submit. “They knew that disobeying was the rule to survive, so they built transgression programs. Theatre, reading, dancing, singing, everything that was forbidden, because everything was forbidden anyway”, says Sylvie Mongin-Algan. This project, which was born about ten years ago and which has traveled a lot, is based on the story Sketch heights by Argentinian author Alicia Kozameh, who spent four years in prison. Around the eight actresses of the troupe, 22 other women, artists, activists, participate in the show.
Women’s resistance to history
In Lyon, these representations, where the Gestapo led by Klaus Barbie carried out the worst interrogations, tortures and summary executions of Jews and resistance fighters, has a high symbolic value. The place retains and transmits all these dramas. The actresses present are not insensitive. “It’s a place that absorbs energy, there are no openings, no sun, no light”says actress Joséphine Caraballo. “And we know what happened here. So it feeds us in everything we say, it makes sense.” An essential duty of memory. But unfortunately women imprisoned and deprived of any form of freedom do not belong to the past. A resonance with the battles currently being waged in other countries where oppression reigns, such as Iran or Afghanistan.
“30 Somos”March 11 and 12 at the Center for the History of Resistance and Deportation – 14 avenue Berthelot 69007 Lyon