A/ How would you feel if your hands were cut off just to feed the greed of some rich bastards ?
B/ Stop with the metaphors.
C/ Yeah but you get the message.
B/Yes I get it but still I am tired of the metaphors, the poems, the prayers and all the Jesus said turn-the-other cheek bullshit.
D/ Come on, that’s the spirit our characters pay hommage to...
B/ Your character, not mine.
D/ Alright then, not your character but at least his and mine.
A/ No no, I am sorry but I don’t recognise myself in the character you play, that’s why I named mine William Henry the third.
C/ Waw... and you think that’s enough ?
A/ For me, yeah ! Please stop laughing at me.
C/ I am not laughing at you, I am laughing...
A/ with you. Yeah. Whatever.
D/ Don’t forget that we are in a white theatre, with a white director.
B/ So what ?
A/ Yeah ! So what ! Remember, the title of the play ? Black !
C/ The Sorrows of Belgium.
A/ Yes but the first word in capital letters is Black and I am not sure that if we are the ones playing the Blacks that we really are doing justice to...
C/ What do you mean « if we are the ones playing the Blacks » ?
A/ Let me finish please.
C/ What do you mean ?
A/ Can I finish !?
B/ Ouuuhhh, toxic masculinity.
A/ Really ? You wanna go there ?
B/ Why not ?
C/ Look at him, he doesn’t like that.
D/ Let him finish.
A/ Thank you. What I am saying is that our characters’ voices don’t reveal as many dimensions as the white characters.
D/ And it’s a pity for a performance titled Black.
A/ Voilà!
C/ We know that already.
A/ Why didn’t you say it earlier then ?
B/ To offer you another voice.
A/ Stop laughing. You see that’s the problem, we can’t talk seriously.
B/ Listen man, it’s not because I laugh that I am not taking things seriously. You don’t know me.
C/ She’s right, you don’t. Where were you when we talked about colonial excuses ?
D/ Come on.
B/ Were you there ? No ! So shut up !
D/ Come on, we have to think like a team. She doesn’t mean it.
B/ Oh yes, I mean it.
A/ Alright, I shut up. Enjoy your superficial characters.
D/ Hey ! Come back ! Listen, we all agree on the need to bring different black voices. That’s why I want to talk about the different implications between excuses and financial reparations for a country with colonial past, crime against humanities, robberies and more despicable businesses that its population is still benefiting from today.
C/ Our director won’t let us do it.
B/ That’s why you need to write and direct your own stories my dear.
C/ I am.
D/ I am, as well.
B/ Really ?
D/ Yes, I even got a title.
C/ Already ? What is your title ?
A/ « Fuck your excuses, pay back what you stole from me ».
D/ Nope. Too long.
A/ Oh yeah ?
B/ Yes.
D/ I’m kidding.
C/ What about
D/ « Black. The Sorrows Of Belgium, part 1 : Congo...
A/ ... a century of illegally building white privilege ».
D/ Can we say that ?
A/ Saying « a century of illegally building white privilege » ? Yes we can.
D/ Thank you Barack.
A/ Obama is not black.
D/ Don’t start again.
B/ He is biracial.
A/ Thank you.
B/ Thank me later.
D/ Our white colleagues are waiting for us.
A/ Let them wait.
C/ Enough. Let’s go back to work.
B/ Let’s Africanise them.