Sophie Belvisi presented her show “Alzhei’mère” at the Catalan on Sunday as part of Blue Week.
Rarely has such emotion gripped the Ilois public. The spectacle of Sophie Belvisi caught in a halo of light, in search of this ultimate truth that lies within us, made the lines move and tears flow.
Nothing is simple for Sophie Belvisi, whose Ilois youth was stolen by this terrible illness which affected her mother at the age of 49, when she was only 16 and she had to take on the role of the caregiver. “One day my mother didn’t recognize me and the whole sky went dark“. And this question that comes up again and again: “ Why one day we become the parent of our parent ” ?
An authentic show, a social painting, the life of two women, a mother and her daughter, caught in the grip of Alzheimer’s disease. With, like in a Ken Loach film, these zooms which crush the perspectives and lock the characters in a stifling camera, for which Sophie Belvisi has found the key: humor. With these existential questions that the artist asks during his show: “Why does illness change people’s outlook? (…) In what world do we fall asleep when we have Alzheimer’s?” ?
And those tears at the end of the show, when Jérôme Parrilla gave him the city medal; when even in the hall of the Catalan, surrounded by the affection of her friends, she confided: “I want to come back and play here, I want other people to see the show. I want to get the message across, because not everyone was aware of what I was going through and today I say it without taboo. I no longer have anger. I’m not afraid of anything anymore“. And this pressure of playing at home, 500 meters from the house on rue des Genévriers. “I was really scared at first. As soon as I added little things from here, I got stressed. Otherwise I ran my show. As there was more room on stage, I took the time. I gained thickness. It felt good, but after being emotionally inclined, it devastated me“.
For Raphaël Lopez, the deputy mayor who organized the show with the Municipal Social Action Center, the moment was unique: “It was moving. Bringing Sophie back to Ille was a great emotional moment. She arrived at noon to rehearse and until the end of her show she was filled with emotion. I’m happy that there were people there, because that was the worry we both had (…) It’s a great meeting with Sophie and I hope we’ll do something else again“. The first part was provided by Anne Erell Tor who took part in the show, a bit complicit and aptly.
