Theater: “Little White Wives, Stories of Black Marriages”

In the form of a talk, this show is a fascinating investigation that questions colonization from yesterday to today based on the story of mixed-race children. Marisa Gnondaho known as Simon and Stéphane Olry each surveyed their families, one on the African side, the other on the French side, to retrace the history of “black marriages” uniting colonists with African women. Stéphane Olry tells the story of his great-grandfather, a settler in the former Dahomey. He presents the book written by this ancestor, Marc Simon: “Souvenirs de bush”. It reveals photographic plates taken by the ancestor. Marisa Gnondaho says Simon interrupts her when he is about to show four photos…

The possible dissension between the two protagonists is posed from the start. They are cousins, both descendants of the same ancestor, a colonial official who had two descendants. The official, white, recognized one, in mainland France. The other hidden, mixed race, abandoned in Africa. These connections were kept secret, these destinies long covered in silence. The family investigation has expanded, the creation includes enlightening testimonies: an ethnopsychiatrist, a griot, a chocolatier, a notary, a Senegalese rifleman... Marisa Gnondaho known as Simon and Stéphane Olry have created one of the most interesting pieces on the colonial family heritage.