SYNOPSIS

VOYAGE VERS L’ESPOIR

OPENING Children are playing next to the railway tracks. They are Meryem and Haydar’s children. A train approaches. The youngest child lies down between the tracks. The train passes and the child stands up from the railway tracks unharmed. FIRST ACT – THE VILLAGE – EDEN On their cornfield, Meryem and Haydar quarrel about staying or going, about leaving the country or staying there. It is a clash of opposing principles: either leave and look for a better future or stay with almost nothing.

Haydar wants to sell the house and the land. A neighbour offers him a reduced price and despite his doubts and Meryem not wanting to leave, Haydar accepts.

The kids and Meryem return home as men are beginning to take the house apart. The children understand that their parents are leaving and try to convince them to take them on the journey. Only the youngest, Mehmet Ali, doesn’t bargain. Haydar doesn’t want to take any children with them on the road but accepts to bring Mehmet Ali along to please Meryem and to guarantee a future for the family when they arrive at their destination.

SECOND ACT – ON THE ROAD Meryem, Haydar and Mehmet Ali have been walking and walking, without cease, on the side of the road, under driving rain. Mehmet is curious. Everything is so unfamiliar. He tries to stop the cars passing by.

A truck stops. They climb aboard. Matteo is a Swiss trucker. He gives Mehmet chocolate. Police officers catch them in Matteo’s truck and send them back to a railway station.

Stranded in Milano Centrale station, Meryem, Haydar and Mehmet are tired. They meet a shady fellow whose name was given to them by Matteo. The mafioso proposes to send them back to Turkey with the money they have left and then leaves.

Meryem notices Mehmet is not well. A doctor appears. She tells them to go back home if they want their child to survive. She disappears. Meryem and Haydar reflect on their situation and what is left while Mehmet sleeps in their lap.

Meryem gives the mafioso her wedding ring and Haydar accepts to give the half of his future pay. THIRD ACT – THE ALPES – LOST PARADISE Stormy weather. The Alps are looming, looking even bigger than they are. A little group of refugees is trying to cross the mountains in the tremendous storm.

Mehmet is really struggling with the journey. The night has just gotten darker. Suddenly they hear dogs barking. The group has to escape in all directions and scatter all over the mountain. Haydar takes a path upwards alone with the child. When the panic generated by the border guards abates, Haydar starts to look for Meryem.

Mehmet is left alone on the mountain. He’s barely alive.

As Haydar comes back to Mehmet, the child dies in his arms. Meryem stands by, looking at Haydar rocking the dead child in his embrace.

In prison, a police officer interrogates Haydar. He asks him why he came to Switzerland.

VOYAGE VERS L’ESPOIR

Opéra en trois actes de Christian Jost (*1963) ACTE I – UN VILLAGE – ÉDEN Ouverture

TABLEAU 1 – SUR LES VOIES FERRÉES Mehmet Ali, Fatma, Güney Changement

TABLEAU 2 – LE CHAMP DE MAÏS Introduction Meryem, Haydar Changement Aria Haydar

TABLEAU 3 – L’ACCORD Interlude Haydar, Le Paysan Interlude Fin Haydar, Le Paysan

TABLEAU 4 – ADIEU Interlude Les Enfants, Meryem, Haydar Épilogue