Director Gabriel Garran, writer, poet and actor, founder of the Théâtre de la Commune d’Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis) and the Théâtre International de langue française, died at the age of 95, a-t -we learned Saturday, May 7 from his entourage.
“The disappearance of Gabriel Garran leaves orphans all those who self-proclaimed the ‘children of Aubervilliers’ as well as several generations of artists who were able to find with the one who called himself an ‘archangelet’ an artistic and popular filiation deep”pay tribute to his relatives in a press release, written in particular by his administrator Jean-Jacques Hocquard.
“Gabriel Garran was a great lord of French theater”, reacted on Facebook the former Minister of Culture Jack Lang, saying to himself “tremendously sad to learn of his disappearance”.
Real name Gabriel Gersztenkorn, Gabriel Garran was born in 1927 in Paris to a couple of Polish Jews. When war broke out, his father was deported to Auschwitz where he died. Gabriel Garran is forced to flee the Occupation with the rest of his family and to practice various trades under a false identity, according to those around him.
After the Liberation, he became an animator and discovered the theater. His meeting with Jack Ralite, elected communist mayor of Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), inspired him to plan the first permanent popular theater in the suburbs, with the creation in 1965 of the Théâtre de la Commune d’Aubervilliers, promoted to Center Dramatique National, which he directed for 20 years.
“Until the end of his life his vitality was impressive. He went from one founding idea to another, which made this theater an exceptional place. It was also he who introduced improvisation in France”theater director Marie-José Malis told AFP. “He was someone very discreet, stubborn, courageous, innovative. He leaves an immense legacy for French-speaking theatre”she added.
Gabriel Garran had in fact founded, in 1985, the Théâtre international de langue française dedicated to French-language authors throughout the world, which he directed for 13 years, before setting up his last company, Le Parloir contemporain, in 2005, with objective the meeting point between literature, theater and poetry, according to the press release.
Author of two plays and numerous poems
Gabriel Garran wrote two plays, The color of bread and The Laughter of the Fool, an autobiographical novel French Geographyan adaptation Tulip or the Protest and more than 1,000 poems, most of which are unknown to readers or published in the form of collections, recalls those around him.
Revealing through his staging of many talents, including in particular African, North African and Quebec authors and artists unknown in France, Gabriel Garran was awarded in 2015 the Great Medal of Francophonie by the French Academy.
In a press release, the management of the Théâtre de la Commune recalled the slogan of its founder: “The future of theater belongs to those who don’t go there.”