It is while playing, 5 years ago, the character of Angela Merkel in the play “In the ruins of Athens” of the Birgit Ensemble, which Anna Fournier attached to the one who was German Chancellor from 2005 to 2021:
“It was her anti-hero side that seduced me. She had a rather Shakespearean way of cultivating mystery. I had to fight against her nature, slow and anti-theatrical, to put my energy into it and that I find a way to embody it.”
Actress Anna Fournierat franceinfo
From the dazzling political rise of this scientist, born in East Germany, to the wear and tear of power, Anna Fournier unfolds with humor and sensitivity the journey of an exceptional woman. She plays all the characters, all the leaders that Angela Merkel dated, from Vladimir Putin, who knew his German counterpart was afraid of dogs, to French presidents:
“It’s great to be able to look from the outside, to have a German character talking about French politics, people laugh a lot more than if it’s a Frenchman talking about France, it’s as if she had the right. By playing Merkel, I have a little right to say what I want.”
Anna Fournier dares the burlesque to embody a character a priori austere, an intelligent theatrical audacity. She allows herself fiction to dive into the intimacy of Angela Merkel, imagine what she says to her husband in the evening, when she returns from a meeting which was horrible with Vladimir Poutine, or what she thinks when it decides the fate of millions of Greeks during the financial crisis.
The portrait, however touching, is not hagiographic, the sometimes harsh positions of the Chancellor are not overlooked, and the show takes us into the intimacy of power.
“Guten Tag, Madame Merkel”by Anna Fournier at the Théâtre du Train Bleu in Avignon, until July 27.