The Book of life

A VOLCANO, CANADA AND  WOMAN CULTURAL CENTRE, RWANDA PRODUCTION

The Book of Life has had hit appearances at the 2022 Edinburgh International Festival (“a glorious dance of life”), the 2023 SpoletoUSA Festival (“Undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary events at Spoleto Festival USA this year”), The Ubumuntu Festival in Kigali, and in six cities in the USA: Austin TX, Athens GA, Winchester VA, Richmond VA, Blacksburg VA and Boston MA in the Fall of 2023. It is currently available for touring.

Rwandan writer and activist Odile Gakire “Kiki” Katese takes to the stage with INGOMA NSHYA, The Women Drummers of Rwanda, to share a deeply moving perspective on life, loss and recovery, in a performance filled with music and hope.

The production of the Book of the Life at the 2022 Edinburgh International Festival was made possible with support from:

Volcano’s New Work Development Partner is:

The Story

“I want to archive life.”

What makes humans go to the edge of the abyss, and then step in? In Rwanda, in April of 1994, one million people were murdered in 100 days. A country devoured itself. As has happened too many times in human history, something terrible turned in the collective unconscious of a people, and the unthinkable was suddenly commonplace. 

But then what? What happens next – after the worst thing?

In Kiki Katese’s new project, The Book of Life, she leads an audience through a remarkable journey – a kind of how-to guide to rebuild a deep understanding of life in the aftermath of incalculable loss. Kiki writes:

“We still have the possibility of undoing the genocide in some small way, to bridge the hole that’s been left, not with bones or the clothes they wore when they died – but with their lives. The dinners. The lovers. The dates. The joy. How do we undo the undo-able? We let them live again.”

The play is based on Kiki’s years-long project of accumulating letters written by survivors and perpetrators of Rwanda’s genocide, ordinary people, addressed to those who are gone. It is infused with original music performed and sung by the internationally acclaimed Women Drummers of Rwanda.

At a time when our world is racked with disharmonies, hatreds and struggle, The Book of Life offers hope: unlocking life after trauma, and finding a humane way forward full of joy.

Photography by: Dahlia Katz

PRESS

In Conversation: Odile Gakire Katese and Ross Manson

“In The Book of Life there’s an opportunity to re-invent things; to dream; to try to undo something; and to propose for a moment another point of view, another way of the re-visiting the past… It’s like a ceremonial way to just rehabilitate life.” – Kiki Katese

Our Team

MILESTONES

June 1 – 4, 2023: US Premiere – presented by the SpoletoUSA Festival in Charleston, South Carolina

March/April 2019: Development and First In-Progress Performances - The Book of Life workshopped and performed in Kigali and Huye, Rwanda

September 17 - 29, 2019: Canadian Premiere of the solo version – presented by the Canadian Stage Company, in association with Why Not Theatre at the Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre, Toronto

August 13 – 16, 2022: World Premiere of the full version (with live chorus from Ingoma Nshya) – presented by the Edinburgh International Festival at the Church Hill Theatre, Edinburgh