Writer, Director & Performer: Rébecca Chaillon & Aurore Déon
Originating in France, Whitewashing is a powerful performance art piece focusing on the experiences of black women. As the audience walks into an overwhelming smell of bleach they see Rébecca Chaillon and Aurore Déon cleaning a never quite white enough floor. This continues for some time after the announcements at the beginning of the show. Déon is dressed in fully black clothing. She is standing upright and cleaning methodically. Meanwhile Chaillon, dressed in white and a foil hat, her skin (except her face) painted white, with white eyes and white lips, is much more frantic. She moves haphazardly around the floor, frenziedly scrubbing with loud laboured breathing on her hands and knees and stripping her clothes in order to use them too until she is fully naked. Eventually, she also starts frantically scrubbing herself. Throughout this cleaning process, there is an endless audible drip of coffee of different shades onto the floor. Although this introduction goes on somewhat longer than is comfortable, that appears as though it may be the point, to make you feel a little uncomfortable. Neither Chaillon nor Déon ever break their character’s objective of cleaning until they both break their silence by singing and from there, the rest of the performance unfolds.
Déon takes on a caring role for Chaillon which she then maintains through to the end by both physically performing caring tasks and bringing her objects that facilitate her performance. She first picks her up from the floor and sets her on a pedestal like box centre stage. She then begins to wash the white substance from her body, thereby uncovering her blackness. Through this Chaillon is silent and immobile bar some looks out into the audience. Déon is diligent in her work and also occasionally looks out into the audience. As her skin is cleaned and her hair is done, Chaillon gradually becomes more alert, removing the white contacts from her eyes and finally looking out into the audience as her true and authentic self, completely bare and vulnerable in front of the audience. It is a truly stunning moment.
In another wonderfully poignant moment, Déon braids Chaillon’s hair into long braids that are held by audience members and hung from various parts of the theatre. Chaillon then invited black women from the audience to hang pictures of black women from magazines from the braids. While this process is ongoing, she reads various ‘wanted’ ads, some a subtle, some a not so subtle commentary on the expectations of black women navigating the dating scene in today’s society. This is a striking demonstration of the objectification and sexualisation of black women. Chaillon eventually frees herself from these expectations in a process that is both touching and so shocking that it invoked both surprised laughter and loud gasps from the audience.
Chaillon has a natural charm with the audience. She is quick witted and warm, welcoming the audience into her world and holding them there with a tight grip. Déon has the power to deliver the kind of dialogue that draws you in before hitting you hard. She is elegant and thrilling to watch as she moves effortlessly around the stage. Although the performance was advertised as being in French with subtitles, Chaillon and Déon both used some English. Chaillon also incorporated cúpla focail into her advertisement reading. It made the show more accessible to the Dublin Theatre Festival audience.
Whitewashing is an experience. It is a powerful, thought provoking commentary on the roles of black women, racism and societal expectations. A largely white audience, including myself, attended this performance, and although we will never fully understand the issues raised throughout, it is an important conversation that needs to be had, particularly with the state of our society today. Personally, I will carry the impact of this performance for many years to come.
Reviewed 25th Sept 2025.
