More than 150 African and European artists performed and over 4,500 theatre lovers were able to escape the country's grim reality, if just for a little while.

The last three years have been a relentless struggle for Fanta Charlotte Dabone, a mother of three from Burkina Faso, a West African nation deeply scarred by extremist violence. Forced to flee her village after an attack, she left behind her husband and ...