Unpublished article - Chloé Delassis
After adapting’Iliad then the’Odyssée in 2017, followed by the novel Chanson Douce of Leïla Slimani in 2019, it is to the grandiose work Lost Illusions by Honoré De Balzac that French director Pauline Bayle tackles. Once again confronted with literary material, she succeeds brilliantly in transposing Balzac's literature onto the stage.
The story follows Lucien, son of the heiress of the noble de Rubempré family and a modest pharmacist named Chardon, a union that provokes much ridicule from the inhabitants of his hometown. The young provincial, who dreams of becoming a poet, is persuaded by his protector Madame de Bargeton to follow her to discover Parisian life, as she assures him of better professional opportunities in the capital. However, as soon as he arrives, Lucien finds himself cut off from the rest of the world and exposed to the beginnings of a society based solely on the concept of money.
A show that promotes human authenticity
Young, dynamic Jenna Thiam's interpretation of Lucien's character is a brilliant, subtle portrayal of male puberty. Her sensitive acting moves the soul. Above all, however, it reveals a denunciation of a sexist, heteronormative model of society at the dawn of the industrial revolution, perpetuated today in a good number of advertisements. Jenna Thiam legitimately takes her place in an excellent cast featuring Charlotte Van Bervesselès, Hélène Chevallier, Alex Fondja and Guillaume Compiano.
Each of these five actors alone plays at least three different roles - so we're dealing with sixteen characters - carefully distinguished from one another by intelligible costume transitions that take place in front of, and among, the audience. This scenic choice is reminiscent of Brecht's theater model, which aimed to expose the machinery and erase the effects of illusion. In this way, Pauline Bayle not only rehabilitates the place of women by assigning them the roles of men with powerful status, she also suggests a multiplicity of abilities in a single individual, breaking the social stereotypes that often reduce us to a single character trait.
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The quadri-frontal set-up not only places the stage action at the center of the audience - giving spectators a sense of being involved, a feeling reinforced by several public addresses - but also has the added advantage of integrating the actors with the audience when they're not performing, and, above all, of allowing an open view of others - spectators and off-stage actors alike are, so to speak, laid bare before each other, in a reciprocity that invites authenticity and sincerity.
Back to basics
Opting for a set design that reclaims the artistic power of a bare stage, Bayle also allows us a boundless imagination and a focused interest in the action itself. Just as the gender of the actresses in no way restricts their credibility in male roles, the absence of any scenic objects, props or scenery hardly obstructs our immersion in the story; on the contrary, it even contributes to it, inviting us to focus not only on materiality, of which there is much in Balzac's work, starting with financial interests and real estate and household goods.
In this retranscription for the stage, the director matches the precision with which Balzac foresaw the influence of the society of money and appearances on human relationships. Prey to the pecuniary aspirations and personal interests of those around him, Lucien, like many young people currently living in precarious conditions, discovers the complexity of the human condition and comedy as he climbs the social ladder.
09/11 Saint-Cloud (92), Les 3 pierrots | 16/11 Epernay (51), Le Salmanazar | 26/11 Saint-Valéry-en-Caux (76), Le Rayon Vert | 07/12 Boulogne-Billancourt (92), Le Carré Belle-Feuilleles 21 | 22/01 Noisiel (77), La Ferme du Buisson | 11/03 Vitry-sur-Seine (94), Théâtre Jean Vilar | 19/03 Rosny-sous-Bois (93), Georges Simenon Theatre and Cinema | 02/04 Tremblay-en-France (93), Théâtre Louis Aragon | 08 and 09/04 Sartrouville (78), Théâtre de Sartrouville et des Yvelines CDN | 20/04 Cachan (94), Théâtre Jacques Carat | 04/22 Garges-les-Gonesse (95), Espace Lino Ventura | 05/12 Villejuif (94), Théâtre Romain Rolland
Write to the author: chloe.delassis@leregardlibre.com
Photo credit: © Simon Gosselin
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