The theatre... A celebration!

Three days of theatre with ‘Le Tourniquet’, a comedy by Victor Lanoux, and ‘Rentrée 42, bienvenue les enfants !’ by Xavier Lemaire and Pierre-Olivier Scotto.

- ‘Le Tourniquet’: Taking refuge in a bunker after a global catastrophe, unable to leave, Jean and Jacques have a few tins of peas but no tin opener. ‘Le Tourniquet’ is the confrontation between two opposing personalities, a self-important intellectual and a naive man who is always ready to help. Tragedy is overtaken by farce... It is the slow agony of two men doomed to gradual annihilation... but in a hilarious way that upsets established values with insane logic...
This satire, written in 1973, remains highly topical with its corrosive humour, addressing the themes of human selfishness and nuclear catastrophe.

- ‘Back to school 1942, welcome children’: It is Thursday, 1 October 1942, the day before the start of the school year at the Victor Hugo girls' primary school in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. The teachers are meeting after the summer holidays to prepare for the new term...
There is Gisèle Blanc, the headmistress, a refined woman with the gentle yet firm authority of someone who knows what she is doing...
There is Monique Ricou, a committed teacher (she is a communist) and friend of Gisèle Blanc. She is outspoken, and this era of denunciations and compromises revolts her.
There is Lucienne Tati, a woman full of empathy, whose life is as regular as clockwork, who loves her job more than anything else.
And Suzy Courcelles, a young teacher, beautiful and radiant, who wants to succeed, loves the theatre and Marshal Pétain...
There is also the caretaker Adolphe Bastien, a veteran of the First World War who lost an arm in the war. He is a joker and helpful, but he does not like the Fridolins.
Finally, an inspector is due to visit the school. His name is Mr Person, and he is entrusted with the new national education guidelines. He intends to restore moral values to French schools...
An unexpected event will challenge their teaching profession and bring out their ability to resist! Follow the investigation of these everyday heroines in Vichy France. Without ever giving in to despair, with courage and a touch of dark humour, they fight for children, for education, for justice... for humanity.
Written by Xavier Lemaire and Pierre Olivier Scotto, Xavier Lemaire's work is touching and powerful, like a palpable link between the past and the present!
The play is nonetheless comical and surprising.

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