The first of Mother, the show by Wajdi Mouawad with the music of Bertrand Cantat, at the national theater of La Colline, in Paris, will take place on Friday evening, after being postponed for a week.
“It had been postponed for a week for production reasons (children on stage) in no way related to the presence of Bertrand Cantat as a musical composer”, learned Press, while the Théâtre de La Colline mentions “production hazards” on its website to justify this postponement.
The singer’s involvement in the show, sentenced to prison for the murder of his companion, actress Marie Trintignant, in 2003, had raised strong protests. The Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, had even said “regret” that Bertrand Cantat created the music.
The director of the Théâtre de la Colline, Wajdi Mouawad, for his part has always refused to deprogram Bertrand Cantat, saying he does not want to “take the place of justice”. “I’m not trying to convince anyone here. And if the Minister of Culture or the President of the Republic, who appointed me, consider that my positions are contrary to the republican principles, that one or the other let me know and I will leave the direction of the theater on the field, ”he said.