By crossing the Greek tragedy of Euripides with the abuse scandal of the Geneva home for autistic children of Mancy, the director Tiago Rodrigues presents in Geneva from November 28 to December 1 “Hecube not Hecube”, a work of masterful breath carried by the distribution of the Comédie-Française.
A few tables and seven chairs, sober and dark costumes. A play is rehearsed, sheets in hand, with its performers. Euripides’ tirades mix with the group’s asides. There is this subway that we must not miss, this time that passes too quickly, this tone that is too lively or not enough, this entrance onto the stage that is still vague: in the courtyard or in the garden?
It involves working on “Hecuba”, a tragedy set in the aftermath of the Trojan War. Queen of the city defeated by the Greeks, Hecuba is now the slave of Odysseus when she discovers yet another all-too-familiar corpse washed up, dismembered, on the shore.
Antiquity and present intertwine
From Antiquity, we suddenly shift into the present. All it takes is a flash of light and a completely different energy within the troop. The costumes remain the same, the tables are still made of wood, but the performers have changed roles. We then catch this exchange between Nadia and her lawyer.
Nadia is no longer the actress in search of her character of Hecuba, here she is, mother, thrown into another drama: “That’s what you’re going to say, Nadia: the truth. (…) You’re going to get tired of it to tell the same stories over and over again,” says the lawyer. Nadia’s response: “I have the habit of repeating the same story hundreds of times! – Yes, in the theater… to pretend. – In the theater, yes, but not to pretend!”
Mirror sets for double show
“Hecube not Hecube”, latest creation by Portuguese director and director of the Avignon Festival Tiago Rodrigues, is a double show, a game of mirrors where two related stories centuries apart intertwine. They respond to each other, feed each other, offering catharsis and resilience in the anger of a parallel fight. There are tears and anger in “Hecuba not Hecuba.” No matter the character, they all carry the sincerity of emotion.
Under the stylus of Euripides, Hecuba demands justice from the Greek Agamemnon, made a judge of war crimes: she had entrusted her son to Polymnestor to protect him from the chaos of the battle. However, young Polydore was murdered by the very person who was supposed to save him.
From the pen of Tiago Rodrigues, the actress Nadia demands justice from the investigating judge: she had entrusted her autistic son to a specialized home. However, young Otis (a tribute to the soul singer Otis Redding dear to the director, whose music serves as the chorus of the show) was mistreated by the staff responsible for taking care of him. On the set of “Hecube not Hecube”, the two stories end up merging to tell a third: that of the theater as a place of intimate truth and a political act through fiction and the immediacy of the present played by performers in front of an audience.
A story of fighting
An impressive ancient statue sits on the plateau. She’s a female dog. We could think of the she-wolf saving Romulus and Remus. It symbolizes Nadia’s fight, ready to “bark again and again” to alert the authorities and obtain justice for her child. She is a guardian who is relentless in her determination and motherly love. It is also the character of this cartoon that young Otis keeps watching over and over again.
Around Elsa Lepoivre, incandescent Nadia/Hécube, the residents and members of the Comédie-Française play triple roles with extraordinary mastery and sensitivity. We cite them: Elissa Alloula, Loïc Corbéry (the bad guy is him, Polymnestor and the spineless Secretary of State minimizing his responsibility), Gaël Kamilindi, Eric Génovèse, Denis Podalydès and Séphora Pondi (actress, Nadia’s lawyer and abusive caregiver ).
And if this revisited tragedy of Hecuba with its striking clarity is called “Hecuba not Hecuba”, it is because beyond the addition of this contemporary case of child abuse, it pays homage to the language of ‘Otis, which includes around fifty words which are qualified by negation: Otis not Otis, Fruit not fruit, etc. Shall we add masterpiece or not masterpiece? Masterpiece!
Thierry Sartoretti/olhor
“Hécube pas Hécube” by Tiago Rodrigues, with the members of the Comédie-Française, La Comédie, Geneva, from November 28 to December 1, 2024.
Note the full broadcast of “Hécube pas Hécube” played at the last Avignon Festival on RTS1 as part of the show Ramdam, on December 12, 2024.
