Lisaboa Houbrechts, a tragedian at the Comédie-Française

2023-06-10T05:23:48.487Z

Highlights: Lisaboa Houbrechts is a rising star of the Flemish scene. She is the guest of the Comédie-Française to present her Medea, adapted from Euripides. The "big cry" is the metaphor she found to talk about this desire for theatre that has consumed her since childhood. It is also the silent "great cry" of an actress in a staging of Mother Courage, the play by Bertold Brecht, that she cannot forget.

PORTRAIT - A rising star of the Flemish scene, the 31-year-old director, eager for tragic stories, is the guest of the Comédie-Française to present her Medea, adapted from Euripides, until July 24.

"A great cry". The formula comes up regularly in the mouth of Lisaboa Houbrechts, when we meet her on a sunny Wednesday in April, in a small office on Place Colette. For several weeks now, the young playwright has been dragging her long elegant figure through the corridors of the institution. The "big cry", she explains, is the metaphor she found to talk about this desire for theatre that has consumed her since childhood, to the point of occupying all her time today. It is also the silent "great cry" of an actress in a staging of Mother Courage, the play by Bertold Brecht, that she cannot forget. "That big silent howl must have made us feel the alienation of the character," she recalls. I felt the opposite, a very strong emotion!" Years later, she sometimes still refrains, when directing actors, from telling them "but do as in Mother Courage!".

To discover