The director of the Théâtre de la Colline, Wajdi Mouawad, refused on Tuesday to deprogram French singer Bertrand Cantat, convicted of the murder of his companion in 2003, and whom he asked to compose the music for his next show.
In a statement, Mr. Mouawad also refused to deprogram Jean-Pierre Baro, a director who had been targeted by a rape complaint filed without follow-up, and who is directing a play for the Parisian theater.
The programming of the two artists aroused emotion within the # MeTooThéâtre movement denouncing sexual violence in French theater, which has been gaining momentum in recent weeks.
While affirming to adhere “unreservedly” to “the fight for equality between women and men and that against violence and sexual harassment”, Wajdi Mouawad said refusing to “replace justice” and participate in a “unilateral” movement which “does not suffer from any nuance” and which “punishes beyond justice and law”.
“If someone scheduled or invited to the theater becomes involved in legal proceedings, I will urge them to withdraw from the programming until the work of justice has been completed. To date, no one is in this situation in the programming of the Théâtre de la Colline ”, indicated the director and director, who commissioned Bertrand Cantat to produce the music for his next show, Mother, scheduled from November 19 to December 30.
“I am 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 republican principles, let one or the other do so to me to know and I will leave the direction of the theater on the spot ”, again indicated the director.
The regret of Minister Bachelot
Asked Monday on France Inter, the French Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, had indicated that she had “not to intervene in the management of La Colline”, but that she “regretted” that Bertrand Cantat was invited.
The actress Marie Trintignant had succumbed to the blows of Bertrand Cantat in 2003 in Lithuania. The singer, sentenced to eight years in prison, served four years before being released on parole in 2007. His judicial review ended in 2011.
The French pop rock icon of the 1990s, with his now dissolved group Noir Désir, gradually resumed his public activity as a singer from 2010.