Last Friday, I went with friends, the" Andromache " from Racine to the French Comedy . In view of critics, the World (too old so I can get you the link, sorry) like Pierre Assouline (whose title continues to plunge into an abyss of perplexity), it was double or nothing: either you loved it and hung, or they remained stranded and the two hours without intermission seemed very, very long.
In my case, I was rather between the two: I generally liked, but the choice of staging that have made me also periodically called upon to lift his eyes to heaven, sighing annoyance.
start with the positives: the decor is minimal, leaving room for any words of Racine, and that's pretty successful. Indeed, the text is more than enough, and when we decide to do in the ancient classical (columns, curtains), it is best not to overdo it, otherwise fall into the kitsch peplum ".
The music in the background I was not bothered either: it was not too strong, but besides that it does not go very far when we know what can be music contemporary classical today (but hey, I may not be very objective about it), because it was more or less the same sequence looping, I ended up wondering what she could serve. That said, why not.
In fact, the problem of this piece, it is not the archiclassicisme sets and costumes, but the choice of interpretation and diction.
I am not against the diction "Racine" ("what we imagine Racine" is more accurate) of pronouncing the text in some hieratic and solemn. After all, there has something solemn in the plays of Racine, which is that his characters are not the same attitude as those of Corneille.
But, it does was not necessary: 1) start to scream suddenly, without cause, 2) periodically take a hoarse voice halfway between Grendizer and Darth Vader. Friday evening, from my point of view (I may have a sharp tongue), Clément Hervieu-Léger (Orestes) and Eric Ruf (Pyrrhus) completely missed their entry because of it.
Moreover, the problem of the diction is that if one is not very good, it's horrible whenever Aurelien Recoing (Phoenix, confidant of Pyrrhus) Suliana and Brahim (Cleone, confidante Hermione) opened their mouths, I could not help but sigh and it was frankly impossible to be worse, although I admit that during the story by Cleone the arrival of Pyrrhus and Andromache in the temple, it was significantly improved for a minute or two.
Last confidante, Celine Samie (Cephisus), was she, not bad, but I wonder if this is not especially compared with the character Main accompanies it, Andromache (Cecile Brune): take a log, put him in Greek dress and you have the character we've seen evolve on stage Friday night.
One of my friends' m rightly noted that it changed the Andromache weeping mothers that we normally used. Certainly. And I recognize that the complete representation petrified in its sorrow over Pirro is not a bad idea. But finally, when it is not there, was it necessary to make it as devoid of expression and feeling? "O-my-son-o-my-father": a machine even pronounce the better. Even the famous description of the capture of Troy, a perfect example of hypotyposis (ie description so vivid that you feel you really have it in front), is completely missed: it leaves us as cold a recitation shopping list.
In truth, the real protagonist of this piece as it is put stage here is Hermione. Leonie Simaga is simply excellent: it makes it soft diction Racine, supports his character as ever and proves very clearly above all its partners, including an experienced player and he also usually excellent as Eric Ruf. ;
In short, if I had one suggestion for the French Comedy, it would drop "Andromache" and to rename their room "Hermione". This is only fair and there would be less fraud on the "goods".
In terms of going to see it or not, I leave you free to decide in the light of my report (as usual) because I can not advise you or discourage you. It's up to you !
(Last visit Hector to his wife Andromache and her son Astyanax, column krater Apulian red-figure, dated c. 370-360 BC. J.-C ., found in Ruvo, and kept at the National Palace Museum Jatta in Ruvo di Puglia (Bari province), Italy photo by Jastrow, source: Wikipedia Commons)
0 comments:
Post a Comment