In Because of the sun, the playwright Evelyne de la Chenelière pays homage to Albert Camus — a writer who marked her youth — with a strong text in which her voice skilfully mixes with that of the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature. From a theatrical point of view, however, the show only half-convinces.
Posted yesterday at 11:00 a.m.
the stranger, one of the most famous works of Camus and of French literature as a whole, is at the heart of the play presented at the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier. We meet Meursault, this man accused of having killed an Arab on a beach in Algiers and whose only explanation for his action is the scorching sun of that disastrous day. However, the playwright superimposed on this story that of Medi, an Algerian immigrant living in Montreal, who refuses to hear the call for help from a woman stuck in her car in the middle of a winter storm.
How to justify their actions? Meursault invokes the sun; Medi, snow. And Evelyne de la Chenelière manages to weave a solid web between these two men who go through life without really knowing what drives them, strangers in themselves and in a society that is wary of those who speak little and act even less.
To transpose this text with undeniable literary qualities on stage, the director Florent Siaud has chosen to break down the fourth wall, placing the spectators in the delicate position of the judge, that is to say of the one who must determine if Meursault and his alter ego are guilty. or not.
The performers face the audience to deliver their text, several times during the show. However, the process ends up losing its effectiveness. The interactions between the protagonists are kept to a strict minimum. Medi (Mustapha Aramis) and Meursault (Maxim Gaudette) talk about what they do, but their bodies are frozen, their faces remain stone. They describe the world around them by rarely setting foot in it. These two are puppets tossed about by fate (or chance, it’s up to everyone!). No doubt, Evelyne de la Chenelière was able to capture the essence of Camus to imagine a Medi whose existence remains devoid of meaning.
Faithful to Camus
In this respect, the piece is exemplary: all the concepts dear to Camus find their way to the boards. Unfortunately, we come out of this rather static show with our heads full of fair and beautiful words, but without being really touched by what is happening on stage. The creators did not want to dictate the emotions to be felt or any conclusion to be drawn. Result: the whole remains cold, at least for those who want to be taken by the heart.
Only exception and it is notable: when the Arab assassinated by Meursault (imposing Sabri Attalah) speaks. In the novel the stranger, he didn’t even have a first name. Here he has a voice, a body, a soul. We guess a family and people who mourn him.
We imagine a life for him that was probably less absurd than his death.
Because of the sun
By Evelyne de la Chenelière, directed by Florent Siaud. With Mustapha Aramis, Maxim Gaudette, Mounia Zahzam, Daniel Parent, Evelyne Rompré and Sabri Attalah
At the Denise-Pelletier Theater Until October 15