From the first seconds, your piece slides into absurdity since it starts… at the end!
“We actually start with greetings to the public. The lights go out, the credits start, the curtain goes down. People are wondering what’s going on. I heard some people say: “It’s not possible! They’re making fun of us!” (laughs) When I proposed this play to the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris, no one believed it. I was told that it wasn’t going to work, that the public wasn’t going to understand the codes. On the contrary, it was a hit. People have been laughing from the start.“
Beyond this initial question, the piece raises several other subjects that obsess you.
“Once I have had fun imagining the subject of the piece, I put in personal reflections on time, death, what we are, what we are not. I’m obsessed with all of this. For me, life is movement. As soon as you stop, it’s a bit like you’re dead. A cyclist who stops pedaling falls. That’s why I do racing, theater, TV, cinema. I never stop. I walk, I gallop, I climb walls. It’s my way of living and existing.“
Do you see your job as an actor differently since you wrote a play yourself?
“Yes, a lot. In a previous play in which I performed, I allowed myself to change a few words from the initial text because I thought it was better. The creator of the piece was not pleased. I couldn’t hear the dismay he was in. I understood when I saw actors performing in my own play. If one of them allowed himself to improv, it would annoy me because I chose every word in this piece and it took months. It’s as if I chose each note to create a specific melody. As a result, this experience taught me to respect the author more. Besides, if I write a play again – which will certainly happen because I loved the exercise – I will no longer act in it. I’m not the same actor. Too often, I found myself a spectator of what I was doing. I was always on the lookout to see what others were playing. I get more involved in other people’s pieces.“
Stéphane De Groodt: “I am constantly looking for thrills: on the track, as well as on stage”
What did the actors say when they read the text of the play for the first time?
“They thought I was sick! (laughs) The first to read the play was François Berléand. He told me he read it four times. He told me that the first time he didn’t understand anything. The second time, it was to try to understand what he hadn’t understood, the third time because he had finally understood and could wander through the story and the fourth time, just to enjoy it.“
Did you fear the public reception?
“Yes, I was petrified to see how people would receive this UFO. There is added pressure because I put my guts on the table. If it doesn’t work out, it’s for my face.“
In a previous interview with DH, you told us: “I’m always looking for thrills: on the track and on stage.”. So you are always looking for a challenge?
“Always looking for challenge and questioning. It is not for nothing that the piece is called A slight doubt. I doubt a lot and I’m happy to do it. I am an emotion seeker, adrenaline junkie. I need this. I feel more alive on the edge of the precipice than in a feather bed. I want to put myself in situations that challenge me, that make me think, laugh, cry.“
“I was a terrible student”: Stéphane de Groodt looks back on his experience at school
How long have you had this passion for words?
“At first, words weren’t my friend. I couldn’t put them in the right order and express myself the way I wanted. When I first started freelancing for magazines, people didn’t understand everything I wrote. But, I said that I didn’t know how to do otherwise, that it was my way of writing. Then, Canal + told me: I like what you do. And, it worked for that.“
What do you think of AI? Do you fear it for the future of your profession?
“If the AI manages to redo my texts, it means we have gone very far. Writing with AI is like inviting people to eat at your house and having a caterer. It’s okay, it took less time but it’s not you. For the job in general, I’m not really afraid of all that. We will always need to go and feel the mood of an actor or actress on stage. Be replaced by a hologram? I don’t really believe it. We must not forget that AI exists because it will draw on things that exist because they were created by humans. So, if man no longer creates anything, it will go around in circles at a certain point. I believe in man and his ability to create things that no machine can create. And if the machine creates the machine, will we be dominated by the machine? I don’t believe it. But, if it happens, we will adapt by finding a loophole as we always have done. Today, there are robots left and right who have taken on certain jobs but besides that, other jobs are emerging. We don’t know so much about what the future will bring that I prefer to imagine positive things.“
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