The co-artistic directors of the NouveauThéâtre Expérimental sometimes believed that their show, postponed twice during the pandemic, would never take place. But there is no question of giving up A conspiracy. Especially since the piece emanates from a dream that its author, Alexis Martin, had for a long time: a creation around the thoughts of two major French artists, the writer Georges Bataille and the painter André Masson.
In his youth, the playwright was very inhabited by The sacred conjuration, a manifesto written by Bataille in 1936. “When I was depressed or in disarray, I reread this text,” he explains. He says that we must find another way of looking at life, beyond the concerns of commerce and careerism and rediscover a primary sense of wonder at the universe. Also accept luck, chance – our society is completely subservient to the fear of tomorrow. During my twenties, it matched my energy, my appetite to discover the world, it gave me a taste for life. This is why we attach ourselves to texts: because they help us to live. People think philosophy is austere. No, for me, great philosophy makes me want to get up in the morning. »
Daniel Brière, for his part, “let himself be carried away by the enthusiasm” of his accomplice: the director went to meet Diego Masson in France – “became a bit of a friend” –, who manages his late father’s collection, who showed him his paintings and allowed him to read letters that Bataille had written to the painter. A rich material. “That’s what’s great about our job: you dive in and become obsessed for two years with a subject, with people. I discovered a painter of extraordinary strength and beauty. »
The piece therefore starts from The sacred conjurationwritten for the initial issue of the journal Acephalous, illustrated by Masson. “It’s as if we took motifs, bits and pieces, and developed a scene around them,” explains Martin. “We are very free in the way we tell this story, in the narrative modes, in the language,” continues Brière. And the eras: the piece begins with a prologue tinged with humor, where we see the performers of the show (Maxim Gaudette, Catherine De Léan and Martin himself) putting together this creation. Then, the story sometimes switches from the meeting between Bataille and Masson to design their pamphlet to contemporary scenes or scenes touching on mythology (the figure of the Minotaur).
Useful art?
A conspiracy incorporates extracts from the poetic manifesto of 1936, a word that Alexis Martin considers more relevant than ever. Particularly regarding the world of work. “It’s a critique of capitalism, roughly speaking,” and of the materialist culture of accumulation of objects. “I feel like there’s a lot of us in there today. And we are in the tyranny of work, the obligation to work, but without really finding any meaning in it. »
The playwright also introduced a contemporary character: an employee in burnout, based on testimonies of what happened at Orange, the former privatized France Telecom. In 2019, company executives were convicted of moral harassment after a series of suicides among employees. “There we see capitalist logic in all its horror of an indifferent beast that devours its children,” the author is scandalized. But that’s a bit like large modern companies. And the bosses are invisible. It is the shareholders, who [incluent] unions mixed with entities, funds. Capital is a “blob” that is impossible to grasp. There is no longer a target. And people find themselves facing a process that devours them. »
This is what sociologist Zygmunt Bauman calls liquid modernity, Martin adds. The transition to a system where “capital is liquid, changes countries, blackmails States, replaces employees, who are a cog [interchangeable]. All the same, I think we should not demonize people. It is the process itself that is the master. Everyone becomes a tool, the instrument of a great capitalist plasma that is indiscernible and escapes us all. »
Supported by the accompaniment of a musician liveJonathan Parant, the piece is also a questioning of the sacred, this “dimension which calls into question the reign of utility, of productivity, of the objectification of people”.
The original manifesto was drafted in the shadow of the rise of fascism in the 1930s. “Today, I think there is an echo, in several ways: the totalitarian temptation is returning,” indicates Alexis Martin. The messianic cult of the strong man, who will turn society around, we see it a lot in Europe. » We saw it in America too… his sidekick slips in.
In the play, an official of the Nazi regime also criticizes the protagonists for creating “art for art’s sake”. Daniel Brière considers this reflection also very current: “For whom do we make art and should it be useful? »
The messianic cult of the strong man, who will turn society around, we see it a lot in Europe
Do the two creators have the impression that we have this requirement when it comes to theater? Martin recalls: “There are sections in grant applications: what is the impact for your community, is it useful? Because it’s public money. » The author judges that this is a dangerous slope. “If the government in place is aligned with your values, you are very happy. He asks you to promote diversity. But if it’s a conservative government that says: don’t talk about abortion in your shows, as it happened… My position is rather: let the artists express all the trends. »
Even if “everything is not bad in these requests”, this license is all the more necessary for an experimental theater. “We have this great opportunity here, we feel quite free,” notes his colleague. But I would say that there are trends, fashions, pressure to fill certain boxes. »
The other duo
In the workshop set up on the Espace libre stage, the public will be able to see paintings by André Masson, as if the artist were creating them in front of them. “It was about working on the painter’s gesture,” explains Daniel Brière. How to bring these works to life, rather than just project them. We had fun with very simple means. »
Originally, the director was to play Masson himself and share the stage with Alexis Martin, as they often did in the past: a duo of friendly artists playing another, like a “wink” eye “. Except that, from now on, Brière no longer wanted to “be inside and outside” of the show. ” It was too much. And that doesn’t change anything. The complicity is there. »
Formed in the spirit of the New Experimental Theater by its founders, the tandem has shared its direction for 20 years now, but the collaboration between these two creators, who met at the Conservatory of Dramatic Art, dates back four decades. ” It’s a fit natural, says Brière. We have universes that complement each other, that confront each other. I trained as a musician and am very sensitive to space management. » “Daniel has a lot of talents that I simply don’t have,” says Martin. And that’s why it interests me. »
A complicity that is always fertile, despite the passage of time. The duo will also create Laughterwith young people, in spring 2024. They still have, they assure, plenty of projects and the desire for experiences to share with others.