Playing AIDS: an experiment in popular theatre in Mali

In Mali, an original experiment called the "useful theater" has succeeded in making the population aware of the problem of AIDS while entertaining them at the same time. Philippe Dauchez, a French stage director and teacher of dramatic art at the Institut National des Arts (INA) in Bamako, drew his inspiration from a popular theater tradition, the koteba, and created the "useful theater", whose aim is to make messages about health acceptable by presenting them in an amusing way. Five companies of actors, all former pupils of INA, regularly visit the most far flung villages to present plays on hygiene and especially on AIDS. The AIDS question is treated here with humor, though gradually the comedy turns to tragedy as one by one, towards the end of the play, the characters learn that they have contracted AIDS. The actors mime their convulsions and suffering and die on stage, despite the efforts of the healer and the doctor, who remain powerless. The aim is to show how the disease is transmitted and how to protect oneself by using a condom. After each performance a discussion is organized to make sure that the message has truly been understood, and condoms are distributed to the audience.