ARTS

04 · Collective creation DyTAEL Bignona × Ka-Reng × ARTS

Land that everyone covets

The story of a forum theatre play built step by step - from the foresight seminar to the public preview at the agricultural high school - to stage the issues of land tenure in Casamance.

In Bignona, Senegal, within a citizens' organisation, the DyTAEL, an amateur group uses theatre to raise awareness of land grabbing and to defend a peasant agroecology.

Unlike the classic "theatre for development" current (TfD), which is often commissioned by an institution, this play is a community-led initiative carried by the DyTAEL and supported by ARTS, crafted step by step in co-production.

Theatre is, above all, an art of speech, at the crossroads of taboos (ñenye in Joola Kassa), progressive words, frankness and respect for oral traditions. It is also an art that puts forms of knowledge on an equal footing: whether you are a scientist, a peasant, an entrepreneur, a politician, an agronomist, from Casamance or elsewhere, everyone takes part in reading the real.

Why theatre

Eight guiding principles

The theatre method sets rules of play - on speech, body, silence and fiction - that open a space of political expression rarely available elsewhere. These principles guide each of the workshops.

  1. Gnie-gnie and frank speech

    Theatre is an art of speech, at the crossroads of taboos (ñenye in Joola Kassa), progressive remarks, frankness and respect for oral traditions.

  2. Denounce

    Unlike formal public speech, theatre can denounce a behaviour with humour where it would be received elsewhere as an attack: this is the strength of the distance offered by the fictional role and the costumes.

  3. Switch places

    Playing a role other than one's own - the principle of catharsis. The stage emancipates by letting us try roles other than the one assigned to us in daily life, and therefore other forms of agency.

  4. Don't say everything

    The art of theatre also rests on the unsaid, on what is hinted at. On stage, silence weighs as much as words: it arbitrates between scholarly speech, everyday speech and a silence that speaks.

  5. The body's speech

    Theatre is above all a bodily art. Gaze, facial emotion, movement, interaction: the body is a language in its own right. This is what lets theatre reach audiences who don't speak the language being performed.

  6. Don't impose, hold up to view

    Theatre claims no lessons but states a problem with force - it is a tribunal in itself. By pushing the scene to its peak, it triggers in the audience the need to act in order to do justice to a problem.

  7. Complexify

    From the testimonies, compose a meaningful scenario: subtle enough to feel real, broad enough to address several themes. Not quantitative but qualitative, with spatial and temporal scales calibrated for concrete action.

  8. Promote local artistic languages

    Creative and sensitive, theatre opens space for the other arts present in the culture - song, dance, agricultural rituals - and carries the performance's languages (Diola, Wolof, French) as a sovereign community strength.

In video

A play in the making

A play in the making - When the Bignona DyTAEL forges its voice through forum theatre

A 14-minute report on the collective creation in Baïla. The camera follows the emerging Bignona DyTAEL troupe: improvisations, testimonies from the amateur actors, working sessions with Ka-Reng, and evenings around the fire that matter as much as the formal rehearsals.

The method

Five stages of creation

  1. 01

    8-10 October 2024

    Bignona Town Hall

    Co-constructing a method between theatre, science and society

    Who

    65 people - DyTAEL + Ka-Reng theatre company + ARTS consortium

    Why

    One day of theatre within a 3-day territorial foresight programme led by IPAR

    • · Theatre breaks into a place where it is not expected: we push the chairs aside, switch off the slides, stand up
    • · Collective games to horizontalise relationships and build a shared body language (name circle with gesture, breathing, warm-ups, confrontation games)
    • · Five groups formed, each with a theme: peasant seeds, land tenure, bush fires, animal roaming, fishing practices
    • · Brief: opening situation + conflict + resolution. Three groups perform the full sketch; two stop at the conflict to open the floor to the forum
    • · Public restitution of 5 sketches of 10 to 25 minutes - almost entirely performed in Diola, punctuated with Wolof and French
    • · Reversal of expertise: an ARTS researcher frustrated at not understanding, a participant replies "we will explain it to you"
    • · Final speaking circle: three women speak out vigorously on land grabbing and male complicity in land sales
    • · Knock-on effect: on 10 October, every sub-group of the foresight workshop cites examples from the previous day's theatre

  2. 02

    29-30 January 2025

    Bignona Town Hall

    Creating the DyTAEL troupe and selecting the theme

    Who

    50 people - DyTAEL + Ka-Reng + ARTS

    Why

    Setting up an amateur theatre troupe within the DyTAEL membership

    • · Session grafted onto a food-system foresight workshop led by IPAR - theatre extends the scientific work
    • · 12 volunteers form the troupe - 8 men, 3 women, varied profiles (young farmers, retired, market gardeners, livestock farmers)
    • · 25% women in the troupe (vs 13% in the full DyTAEL assembly)
    • · Notable commitment from women despite the productive and reproductive workload that falls on them and the social pressure that sometimes refuses them public action
    • · Collective choice of theme: "Land tenure" - a pivot of the agroecology transition and a burning issue in Lower Casamance (rural exodus + foreign investor interest)

  3. 03

    3-5 March 2025

    Baïla - residency at campsite

    Artistic residency in Baïla

    Who

    17 people - DyTAEL troupe (12) + Insa Bodian & Lansana Sacouboté (Ka-Reng) + Lise Landrin, Yunuça Gueye, Selbé Faye & Ousmane Pape Diallo (ARTS) + storyteller François Ménager

    Why

    Collective creation of the play on land tenure

    • · Residency format - 3 days free of daily responsibilities, during Ramadan, schedules adjusted and a late session after iftar
    • · A collective creation method - actresses and actors are at once performers, directors and land-tenure experts through their lived experience (Diol et al., 2022)
    • · Stage writing - no prior text; the text writes itself "in body" on stage, orally, mostly in Diola with passages in Wolof and French
    • · 13 improvisations played on day 1 to exhaust the land tenure theme - everyone proposes at least one scene
    • · Narrative pivots: two women testify in the speaking circle - "no husband, no land" and the Thionk Essyl episode, silenced under "this is not women's business"
    • · Evening around the fire - tales, songs, dances, personal talents: informal sociability nourishes creation as much as rehearsals
    • · Sensitive character construction - photo-elicitation, portraits, imaginative games to install the distance between real life and stage role
    • · A 22-minute play structured by the end of the residency; the collective already declines an external invitation in order to first show the work to the DyTAEL
    Artistic residency in Baïla

  4. 04

    11-12 April 2025

    Maison de l'innovation, Bignona

    Restitution to the DyTAEL

    Who

    40 people - troupe + Bignona DyTAEL + Ka-Reng + ARTS

    Why

    Presentation to the DyTAEL community and integration of scientific and civic feedback

    • · Mid-process restitution to integrate IPAR's scientific foresight results and the broader collective's feedback
    • · Play very well received - laughter and live reactions ("that's magnificent", "that's the way")
    • · Validation by Sidy Tounkara (IPAR): urbanisation, exodus, agricultural succession, farmer/herder conflicts, animal roaming, women's access, land grabbing - "it's all there"
    • · Doyen Aziz recommends songs, dances and costumes - "media that touch the human heart"
    • · Importance of costumes emphasised for out-of-department performances - protect the DyTAEL's image when touring
    • · A character is added: "a young agricultural high-school graduate" to speak directly to the next day's audience of students
    • · 12 April: 3 complete run-throughs to integrate all feedback (more agroecology, more local culture, more realism) before the preview

  5. 05

    13-14 April 2025

    Bignona Agricultural High School

    Public preview at the agricultural high school

    Who

    75 people - DyTAEL troupe + Mlomp women's troupe + Ka-Reng + ARTS + high school audience

    Why

    First public theatre forum performance, encounter with the Mlomp troupe

    • · A strategic choice - the agricultural high school transmits an insider's view of the farming profession and inspires the next generation
    • · 45 students + 25 adults (the school principal is a DyTAEL member)
    • · Backstage: dancing, singing, costumes - delivering the play is a celebration
    • · No memory lapses, performance galvanised by audience laughter - 25 minutes of fluid play
    • · Forum in two acts: trial of characters (in shade / centre / under the burning sun) then audience interventions on stage
    • · A memorable argumentative duel around Aliou the "diola cravate": "he's helping his friends" against "he's a lazy city boy"
    • · Three young women, then two men, take the stage to propose alternatives - the audience sends the student "straight to paradise"
    • · Another student takes the stage to deliver a hard-hitting speech in favour of agroecology
    • · The Mlomp women's troupe then performs "Sembé Agnil Anaré Yentham" (the women's fight for land, 1h)
    • · First out-of-village performance for the Mlomp troupe: two Lower-Casamance companies meet around land tenure

Those who made it happen

The troupe and its support

A peasant troupe from the Bignona DyTAEL, supported by the Ka-Reng company (Ziguinchor) and the ARTS team: researchers, storyteller, camera operator. The play is held collectively, in several languages, on several stages.

12 performers - 3 women, 8 men

25% women in the troupe, compared with 13% in the full DyTAEL assembly

The report mentions 12 people - 8 men, 3 women - i.e. 25% women in the troupe, against 13% in the full DyTAEL assembly. The complete nominal list will be published after DyTAEL validation.

Identified performers

  • Dev Sagna

    Actor - farmer, DyTAEL Bignona

  • Bintou Badji

    Actress - DyTAEL Bignona

  • Djibril

    Actor - senior, DyTAEL Bignona

Facilitators and method

  • Insa Bodian

    Ka-Reng theatre company (Ziguinchor)

    Artistic director - workshops and forum facilitation

  • Lansana Sacouboté

    Ka-Reng theatre company

    Facilitator of the residency workshops

  • Adja Dienaba Coly

    Ka-Reng theatre company

    Facilitator of the October 2024 day

  • François Coly

    Ka-Reng theatre company

    Facilitator of the October 2024 day

  • Ibrahima Fayinké

    Ka-Reng theatre company

    Facilitator of the October 2024 day

  • Lise Landrin

    ARTS - University of Bern (GIUB)

    Theatre-research method, report writing

  • François Ménager

    Independent storyteller

    Present at the Baïla residency - storytelling evening

Report credits

Report writing
Lise Landrin
Scientific oversight
Patrick Bottazzi · Joan Bastide
Activity coordination
Yunuça Gueye · Selbé Faye · Chérif Sambou Bodian · Jean-Michel Sene
Research-creation method
Lise Landrin · Insa Bodian
Workshop facilitation
Insa Bodian · Lansana Sacouboté · Adja Dienaba Coly · François Coly · Ibrahima Fayinké · Lise Landrin
Photography and video
Pape Ousmane Diallo
Scientific and civic guarantors
Collectif DyTAEL de Bignona

Stage 3 · Method

Stage writing

A writing without writing - the text is made in body, on stage, through improvisation.

Stage writing is a method of collective scenario writing through the stage itself: through improvisations, exchanges, discussions. No prior text exists, unlike in classical dramaturgy. The actresses and actors are at once performers, directors and creators.

This body-writing always rests on warm-ups and games to develop expressiveness, then on a series of improvisations that exhaust the theme as exhaustively as possible. It selects, removes, adds and starts over until a satisfying form is found.

In the end, every performer knows their entrance and exit cues but stays free in the words spoken on stage. The play remains orally transmitted, never frozen in writing - which makes it adaptable to each new context.

Stage 3 · Day 1

The 13 improvisations

To explore the theme of land tenure, the troupe improvised thirteen sketches in a single day, with no prior text. Each one addresses a facet of the same subject: family, gender, generations, plural authorities, corruption, return to the land, the market, ecology. The final play grew out of the confrontation of these sketches.

01 Improvisation

Land tenure and collective memory

Two men discuss land tenure and land grabbing, reaffirming the DyTAEL's critical role on the issue.

  • accaparement
  • mission
  • communication
  • DyTAEL
02 Improvisation

Conflict between two brothers over land use

A brother returns to claim his land but the other refuses. The land belongs to whoever tends it, not to a person. The village chief decides in favour of the brother who used the land.

  • usage
  • propriété
  • chef du village
  • équité foncière
03 Improvisation

Youth, project, heritage

A young man returns from Dakar to his native village but the family has occupied all the land. He cannot set up his agroecology project. The old man refuses to understand.

  • générations
  • projet
  • héritage
  • retour à la terre
04 Improvisation

Conflict of use and corruption

A herder has nowhere to lead his cattle; the farmer is fed up with seeing his fields eaten and poisons the herd. The customary chief rules - but has been bribed by the herder.

  • conflit d'usage
  • corruption
  • pouvoir local
05 Improvisation

Women and strategic access to land

Three women try to obtain land from a wealthy husband who owns many fields. They contemplate going around him legally to farm.

  • genre
  • stratégie
  • subversion
  • pouvoir patriarcal
06 Improvisation

Project under condition and male control

A widow seeks land from her brothers-in-law to run a DyTAEL-funded project. A man steps in to support her. The land is loaned conditionally, not granted.

  • genre
  • inégalités
  • accès à la terre
  • contrôle masculin
07 Improvisation

Double sale of land

A man sells the same plot to two different people and tries to escape. Administrative chaos ensues.

  • fraude
  • conflits d'achat
  • formalisme administratif
08 Improvisation

Fishing and resource depletion

Conflict over illegal large-net fishing; women confront fishers using banned nets. What alternative?

  • pêche
  • épuisement
  • justice
  • pouvoir économique
09 Improvisation

Land procedure and bureaucratic absurdity

A young man tries to register a land title but doesn't know how. The DyTAEL technician walks him through the procedure (long and bureaucratic).

  • administration
  • procédure
  • satire
10 Improvisation

The talking tree and the ecological conversion

Young men want to deforest to make charcoal. The tree starts to speak - terror! A village woman convinces them to convert to agroecology.

  • agroécologie
  • humain/non-humain
  • femmes médiatrices
  • bois
11 Improvisation

Jakarta vs farming

A son wants to start a motorbike-taxi business (Jakarta). Parents try in vain to dissuade him. He is convinced to try farming and ends up combining both.

  • jeunesse
  • mobilité
  • exode rural
  • souveraineté économique
12 Improvisation

Organic vs conventional at the market

Two vendors confront each other - organic vs cheaper conventional. A man buys conventional, returns disappointed, switches to organic. The difficulty of advocating for organic and its price.

  • alimentation
  • bio
  • prix
  • consommateur
13 Improvisation

Return to the village, legitimacy conflict

Brothers return from Dakar and want the land to be split equally. The brother who stayed on the farm says: "if you want the land, come work it." Illustration of the "diola cravate" archetype.

  • diaspora
  • famille
  • tension sociale
  • légitimité

Stage 5 · Forum theatre

The trial of characters

A West African forum theatre technique: the audience judges each character at the end of the performance. On 13 April 2025 at the Bignona agricultural high school, 70 spectators delivered their verdicts. You can cast your own vote below.

How it works

Forum theatre opens with the trial of characters. For each role, the audience decides: in the shade (positive), at the centre (mixed), or under the burning sun (harmful). Cast your vote and compare it with the verdict delivered by the Bignona high school audience in April 2025.

  • 🌑 In the shade

    Behaviour beneficial to society

  • ◐ At the centre

    Mixed, divisive behaviour

  • ☀ Under the burning sun

    Has harmed society

The corrupt village chief

Rules over land disputes but has been bought off by foreign investors and wealthy livestock farmers.

Your verdict

The chief's deputy

Covers up the corrupt chief's acts and is complicit in the system.

Your verdict

The conservative elderly couple

Denies the young woman access to land in the name of tradition. "No husband, no land."

Your verdict

The young widow

Seeks land to run her agroecology project. Faces resistance from the family and patriarchal system.

Your verdict

Aliou, the "diola cravate"

Comes back from Dakar to claim family land without knowing the work of farming. Opportunist.

Your verdict

The young agricultural high school graduate

A character added at the last minute to speak to the high school audience - embodies the future of the transition.

Your verdict

The corrupting livestock farmer

Short on grazing land, bribes the customary chief to let his herd through.

Your verdict

The sister play

Sembé Agnil Anaré Yentham

« The women's fight for land »

In Mlomp, the PROCASEF (National Land Tenure Security Programme) is registering land titles in 2025, while customary rights have a different ancestral governance. Women, sidelined from the process, staged a drama piece to put their questions to the public: who owns the land? What will happen if we start selling it? What will become of land not declared in 2026? Does the new governance respect the sacredness of the land?

  • · Songs and traditional dances of the sacred groves
  • · Traditional costumes integrated into the staging
  • · 17 women actors, collective direction
  • · First out-of-village performance at the Bignona high school

Troupe · Mlomp women's troupe (Oussouye)

Duration · 1 hour drama performance

Premiere · 27 March 2025 - World Theatre Day

Support

  • · Insa Bodian (Ka-Reng)
  • · CREATES
  • · Lise Landrin

Voices from the troupe

Testimonies

"It's all right - because I have faith in theatre."

Dev Sagna DyTAEL actor, farmer

"I wasn't the best, I'm still not the best. But when the troupe was being formed, I was outside doing an interview - and the room unanimously named me. Out of respect, I had to answer their call. I arrived without knowing where to go, what to do or how. It was like a child learning to walk."

Bintou Badji DyTAEL actress

"At first I thought: at my age this is a bit much. But then I thought, it's for a good cause. Since we've committed to sustainable development through agroecology, why not. It'll be my modest contribution so that tomorrow our children and grandchildren live in a better world."

Djibril DyTAEL actor, senior

"Through theatre, you can solve many problems and find solutions. It is a mechanism for writing down what is blocking us: we step out of school and onto the stage. Today, everyone had something to say - and what each person said carries weight."

Insa Bodian Artistic director of Ka-Reng

"The question of urbanisation, jobless youth, rural and urban exodus, agricultural succession, farmer/herder conflicts and roaming livestock, but also women's access to land, community conflict resolution, foreign and national land grabbing with local complicity: it's all there."

Sidy Tounkara IPAR researcher

"I can say ARTS is a good project, because knowing that some people care about us, about our generation, that's very important. It gives us confidence, it makes us want to keep fighting. When we see our elders cheering us on, we want to push forward."

Une élève de Terminale S Bignona Agricultural High School

"You need to add more dancing and singing: these are media that touch the human heart. And costumes really matter - the play is going to be performed beyond the department."

Doyen Aziz DyTAEL Bignona member

"It's a feeling of satisfaction. Since we set up the Bignona DyTAEL, today is when we really started to mark where we want to go. With forum theatre, we'll get the chance to reach the widest audience, and that audience will help us carry our message forward."

Bintou Badji DyTAEL actress - after the preview

"That's what's extraordinary: we managed to pull out the essence of all the problems we live today in Casamance, and in Sahelian countries more broadly. We could prioritise the problems, and these are the problems we tried to translate into a play."

Djibril DyTAEL actor - on the finished play

What's next

A play that spreads

The Bignona DyTAEL troupe is preparing the regional tour of Land that everyone covets. The dates below are set; others are under discussion. The forum itself adjusts to each new audience.

Further reading

Bibliography

The theoretical and empirical references that nourished the project - from Augusto Boal's theatre of the oppressed to Lise Landrin's work on theatre as a geographical method, by way of political agroecology in Senegal.

What's next

Beyond the stage

Beyond land tenure, this project strengthened the collective and opened paths for other forms of advocacy. Embodied approaches, which work through story and emotion, help build shared understanding and support lasting transformations.

See all theatre captures → Back to the Story (Output 1.4)