ABSTRACTThe plurinational collective the Groupov, based in Liège, Belgium began to work on the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1996 with the idea of creating a work for the stage (theatrical, lyrical, orchestral, and cinematographic). The development process with western and Rwandan artists followed a unique path, developing through public presentations of its “work in progress.” After the Festival d'Avignon in 1999, the Groupov proposed in March/April 2000 the final version of Rwanda 94, which, since then, has traveled all over the world and notably played in Rwanda during the 10th commemoration.The present text examines this work from a specific point of view, that of the pertinence or not, of confronting the artistic phenomenon of a live representation or performance with this extreme, real phenomenon: the genocide. Under what conditions should one dare to make this confrontation? And to what end? This article seeks to identify the concrete answers of Rwanda 94 to this “double bind” between the impossibility of “representation” and the imperative necessity to try and make a representation. To this aim, transgressions but also strong constraints were imposed on the Groupov. They open the theoretical examination of this tension that belongs to live performance: between real and pretense.