“In the field of francophone African writing there was no greater genius than Sony Labou Tansi.” The Independent (London, England)

Next on the Wells-Metz stage, Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe directs Sony Lou Tansi’s bitterly funny Parentheses of Blood.   It’s difficult being a freedom fighter in a country controlled by a brutal authoritarian regime that seeks to quash any threatened rebellion. Libertashio is identified as the number one threat to be eliminated, but even when he is apparently killed, the government continues to hunt him down. The play depicts a world that parallels our own, and the exaggerations are not far-fetched.  The horrifying absurdity is all too familiar to those who recognize a government abusing its authority and power with incomprehensibly stupid and devastating actions. Parentheses of Blood is a bloody, tragic farce, a comedy of confusion, identity, and misguided principles filled with jolting turns. Don’t miss your chance to experience the work of Sony Labou Tansi, a Congolese dramatist, novelist, theatre director, actor, and professor of English whom The Independent lauded: “In the field of francophone African writing there was no greater genius than Sony Labou Tansi.”