Straw Tent Rehearsal at Sunset in Béchar

Molten golden light floods a rehearsal room in Béchar, slicing through the striped canvas of a puppet show tent. The fabric ripples with alternating bands of deep crimson and ochre, each stripe catching the low angle of the setting sun. Floating particles of festival dust drift in the heavy beams, creating visible columns of light that cut through the humid monsoon air. The tent occupies the right third of the space, its wooden poles anchoring it against the earthen floor. Shadows stretch long across the ground, defining the scale of the structure against the plain walls. A faint red reflection glows on the dust-mottled canvas near the base.