Catherine Hiegel on tour with
Music-hall
and
Les Règles du savoir-vivre
des Lagarce played opposite Roland Bertin, who died on February 19, in
Les Corbeaux
by Henry Becque when Jean-Pierre Vincent brought her into the Comédie -French in 1982. She confides:
“He knows how much I loved him.
He was a landmark for me.
We need great actors like him to move forward.
We watch them work and we learn.
How I loved his anger!
They were constructive.
His laughter too.
Roland had retained a childhood astonishment.
He had character, but was very generous with his partners.”
The Frenchman's honorary member had stage fright for a long time:
"He was dying of fear like a beginner when he already had twenty-five years of experience in dazzling shows, including La Dispute with Patrice Chéreau"
, recalls Catherine Hiegel who often played with him in
Massacre in Paris
, by Christopher Marlowe,
Intermezzo
, by Jean Giraudoux,
Les Estivants
, by Gorki or
La Veillée
by Lars Noren at the Théâtre de La colline.
She also successfully staged it in
The Return of Pinter
or
Les Femmes savantes
by Molière.
Read alsoThe actor Roland Bertin, great Frenchman, died at 93
Nicolas Briançon currently at the theater in
Poiret Serrault extra extracts
at Petit Montparnasse made his debut with Roland Bertin at the Comédie-Française.
It was in
Turcaret
, by Alain René Lesage, directed by Yves Gasc in 1987:
“I was his valet,” says the actor, “I also played with him in
Volpone
which I directed in 2012 Roland is perhaps the most intelligent actor I have met in my life, very lucid about beings and the contradictions of the human soul.
He did not let himself be fooled by reputations, names and fashions.
He saw Claude Régy,
Patrice Chéreau
as they were.”
“The incarnation of theater”
Before playing, Roland Bertin prepared a lot in advance.
“But he also let himself be impressed by the director,”
continues Nicolas Briançon.
It was a face, a physique, a size with something Rabelaisian about it.
When he had holes, he would scream: “So what?!”
.
He said that we had to enter the scene by being connected to ourselves, by being ourselves which made us available.
We laughed a lot together.
He was
capable of behaving like a baby and at the same time making you feel disturbing depths
.
Roland Bertin still had stage fright:
“I’m scared to death
,” he said,
holding my hand.”
Roland Bertin had played the role of “the author”, namely Jean-Claude Grumberg in
Maman Retour, Poor Orphan
, at the Vieux Colombier theater under the direction of Philippe Adrien in 1994:
“He was the incarnation of theatre,
believes Jean -Claude Grumberg
.
He could play everything, Ionesco, Beckett, Molière.
He was one of those actors who remained himself through the characters.
We cannot forget them behind their roles.
He reminds me of Michel Robin or Michel Aumont for the rarity and singularity of their personality.
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