Théâtre
elle est avant tout une œuvre profondément surréaliste empreinte de l’esprit fortement contestataire et militant. Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota met en lumière le versant sombre de l’œuvre où chacun des personnages semble en équilibre, en tension permanente, celle de l’écriture même. Victor est un garçon de neuf ans, très particulier, un peu trop grand pour son âge au propre comme au figuré (1,81 mètre). Il aurait grandi trop vite… C’est son anniversaire, ses parents ont invité des amis. Cet enfant roi – « terriblement intelligent » – va pousser les limites et faire partir en éclats les codes de la famille bourgeoise, déliant les langues des adultes, enclins à offrir leurs vices aux yeux et oreilles de tous. Au fil de la pièce, les personnages changent, se transforment, véritable défi de jeu pour les comédiens, tous excellant ici à ces variations stylistiques du texte. Une version à la hauteur de son auteur, qui écrivait au sujet de sa pièce : « Ce drame tantôt lyrique, tantôt onirique, tantôt direct est dirigé contre la famille bourgeoise, avec comme discriminants : l’adultère, l’inceste, la scatologie, la colère, la poésie surréaliste, le patriotisme, la folie, la honte et la mort. »
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THÉÂTRE contemporain
18 & 19/04, 20:00, en français, Grand Théâtre, www.theatres.lu
Victor, a child regarded as precocious because he demonstrates adult vices, decides not to grow up: a cruel drama, full of tension.
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oger Vitrac’s Victor ou les Enfants au pouvoir was staged in 1929 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, directed by Antonin Artaud with the Alfred Jarry theatre company. Heavily impregnated with the Dada spirit – an intellectual and artistic movement which refutes all established artistic constraints and conventions – the play did not receive the expected success at the time, but caused a minor revolution. It was extremely anti-establishment, and failed to achieve an audience or critical recognition as a masterpiece of surrealist theatre until 1962, when it was directed by Jean Anouilh. Roger Vitrac is today considered as a great surrealist dramatist, even though he was ousted from the movement as early as 1925. Discredited by André Breton, theatre was dismissed by the surrealists, who felt that its form and opinions were not up to the artistic requirements of the time. Roger Vitrac was to continue working for several years in close association with Antonin Artaud – creator of the theatre of the absurd – who, from 1927 to 1929, presented only four plays by him, due to lack of funds. This period was a milestone in the history of the 20thcentury performing arts. Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, director of the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, has put Vitrac’s play back on stage at the Grand Théâtre, after having presented it in Paris. Initially considered to be a light comedy, it is a profoundly surrealist work with a strongly militant and anti-establishment spirit. Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota highlights the dark side of the work in which each of the characters seems to be in balance, in constant tension, like the writing itself. Victor is a very special nine-year-old boy, a little too big for his age both literally and figuratively. He has grown too quickly. It is his birthday, and his parents have invited some friends over. This “terribly intelligent” child pushes the limits and flouts the rules
ABRËLL ’13 CITY Agenda LUXEMBOURG
of the middle-class family, loosening the adults’ tongues and making their faults abundantly apparent. As the play progresses, the characters are transformed, which is a real challenge for the cast. Here, they excel at reproducing the script’s many stylistic variations, in a version worthy of its author. Vitrac wrote this of his play : “This lyrical, dreamlike, brutally direct drama targets the middleclass family, wracked by adultery, incest, scatology, anger, surrealist poetry, patriotism, madness, shame and death.”
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La pièce est une tragédie profonde, pas un drame. La pièce nous renvoie aux grands mythes, eux aussi violents : Œdipe, parce que Victor symboliquement tue son père, Ophélie dans ‘Hamlet’, avec l’inceste de la petite fille… The play is a profound tragedy, not a drama. It takes us back to equally violent great myths: Oedipus, because Victor symbolically kills his father, Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’, with the girl’s incest.
Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota la grande interview, la-coursive.com
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