Theater back to basics: with
Amours 2
, presented in preview this weekend in Marseille, Joël Pommerat continues, outside the walls of the prison but in an intact economy of means, the work undertaken since 2014 with prisoners serving long sentences.
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After a first version of
Amours
created in 2019, this is the fourth show put on by the director and his company Louis Brouillard with a group of prisoners from the central prison in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône).
In a small room that looks like a warehouse at the Friche de la Belle de Mai, a cultural center in Marseille, the stage space is delimited by around forty plastic chairs arranged in a U on which spectators huddle together, FFP2 masks screwed to their ears. .
"
You know, if I hadn't imposed my law on you, you would have imposed it on me
," says a father point-blank to his son.
“
You terrified me all my childhood, all my adolescence, all my youth.
I'm scared of you,
” he replies.
Read alsoJoël Pommerat or love in black
Chairs for any accessory, a simple switch punctuating the succession of scenes by way of lighting and, acting as a horizon, a second off-screen room which becomes like a space of escape for the characters and from which emanate the sounds of blows or sounds of frolics.
Temptation of youthful love crossed by chance, couple in need of a child, friendship undermined by a memory: the pathologies of love come in a series of sketches in which the weighed and incisive words of Joël Pommerat hold , with their interpreters striking accuracy, the leading role.
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A count first dictated by the logistical constraints inherent in detention after two previous shows,
Désordre d'un futur passé
in 2015 and
Marius
in 2017, which were "
extremely ambitious and heavy on a technical level
", explains Joël Pommerat.
"
So Amours was made in this very light, very bare form, without decor, without costumes
" since it was necessary to make "
the most discreet and simple object possible
" in order to continue to work in the prison environment, he continues.
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A Christmas story, Tales and legends, A love story
... The shows of the week
“Most of the people we built this team with never went to see a theater show”
Joël Pommerat, author and director
Amours 2
retains only about ten texts, taken from three previous shows by Joël Pommerat, for five to six actors when the first version had about twice as many.
Among them, two former prisoners: Redwane Rajel, who has already played under the direction of Olivier Py at the Avignon Festival, and Jean Ruimi, the man behind the troupe formed in Arles prison.
They are accompanied by three professional actresses.
“
Most of the people with whom we built this team have never gone to see a theater performance.
So we made theater in all innocence, in all virginity,
”says Joël Pommerat, 58, whose each of the creations is sold out in Paris.
Read alsoJoël Pommerat, love, he does not believe in it
“
Basically, that's what held me back, this enthusiasm. The people we worked with were the hardest workers I've met. Passionate and in love with work
”, he confesses, describing an experience far from the theatrical inter-self, this “
little world of people who look alike
”. For the tour, which should start in September, Joël Pommerat imagines playing
Amours 2
in a butcher's shop, a casino, a gymnasium, even a parish. “
From the moment we manage to make a configuration like this, pretty much,
we can play anywhere
. The main principle is to keep this intimacy: to do theater for a small number of spectators in order to be able to go as close as possible
“, he adds.
Anywhere except maybe on a theater set: "
It's good to be in a neutral place where the theater is not expected
".
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