Bambi...Elle est noire mais elle est belle: Powerful

Text et interpretation: Maïmouna Gueye
Mise en scène: Jacques Allaire
au Théâtre le Petit Louvre, 19h50.

Tonight, upon my return from Paris, I went to see the play, Bambi: Elle est noire mais elle est belle.
I knew from the moment I saw the poster with that title, I would go see it. Which did you notice first? Did you notice the name of the character Bambi? Or did you think about the phrase that follows the title.

"Elle est noire mais elle est belle," means she is black but she is beautiful. It may not be hard to figure out why I chose this one woman show. Maïmouna Gueye, born and raised in Sénégal, recounts the story of a Senegalese woman, whose parents indeed named her Bambi. There are tales within her tale. The articles discussing the play indicate that the strory we hear are vignettes from her own life, and this play is her way to "exorcise" her pain through humor and laughter.

Her tale begins, "One upon a time..." and makes allusions to Disney, Sartre and Shakespeare. At the start of the peforamance, there is a disclaimer stating that any resemblance to a character or characters in any Disney film is simply coincidental. Then, "L'enfer c'est les autres" -- Hell is other people, when describing her experience with insouciant racism at the hands of her in-laws. And finally, there is her Sartrian twist on "être ou ne pas être" (to be or not to be). "Sois est tu seras"-- Be and you will be...

Bambi's narrative is well constructed. Using the notion of integration as her "fil conducteur" or central theme, she evolves from her attempt at the ridiculous concept of integration into French society by erasing her identity to integration with her true love in which she doesn't lose herself, but to whom she gives of herself. Yes, Bambi's story, with its humor and tragedies, ends well. She finds herself and true love in the arms of her soul mate--um --Pan Pan (That's Thumper in French).

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