Description
A Comic Tragedy
A production by Patrice Jouffroy and David Gambier. Premiered in 2024
Amidst a jumble of objects, two men share their stories. There’s Jeannot, and there’s Lulu; an uncle and a nephew. It is a house move that brings them together – the move from the home of Lulu’s parents, whose father died tragically during the Indochina War.
As the house is emptied and the belongings sorted through, memories resurface. There are trinkets, charms, childhood mementos and photographs… Ah, the photographs! Captured on paper, the faces of a bygone era take shape and come to life through letters, little anecdotes or stories that form part of the greater historical narrative. The dead we mourn are often those who left us too soon, unjustly. So, what remains is the bitter taste of the past, the acrid feeling that all this could have been avoided. We turn away from reality, we rewrite the past, we rack our brains with ‘what ifs’, but the truth is there, right before our eyes, simple and brutal: they will not return. So, as if to ward off fate, we make the best of the present and bring our dead back to life until they fill the entire stage for the duration of a performance. It is the theatre of our lives that is being played out. And that man who died in Indochina (Lulu’s father)—we bring him to life as best we can, for he acts as a mirror. He is the guardian of our innermost thoughts, like an icon standing tall within our innermost selves. He is a comrade-in-arms, an uncle, a brother, a father, a moped enthusiast, a loving figure and so much more, reminding us of our frailties and our doubts. Ultimately, it is his absence that brings us back to the present and to life. A life that will always prevail through tenderness and humour, the only things that sustain our belief in a better tomorrow. Ultimately, Lulu and Jeannot are the comic guides through a story that could be our own. It is a gripping yet simple tale in which the viewer remains the main protagonist of the unfolding tragedy.
