CRITIQUE – At the Théâtre de l’Atelier, Pauline Bayle stages Balzac’s novel with great audacity.
Created in 2020, interrupted by Covid and then going on tour, Pauline Bayle’s adaptation ofLost IllusionsBalzac’s epic novel, returns to the Théâtre de l’Atelier for a month. Almost everyone knows the story – the rise and fall – of Lucien de Rubempré, this young man from Charente who came to Paris to seek literary glory. A fatal journey. He is played here by the actress Anissa Feriel, which will not bother the spectator at all. This dear Lucien is described by Balzac as a man-woman. He is a handsome boy, elegant, melancholic. Anissa Feriel is brunette, Lucien was rather blond, no matter; the four other actresses and actors will take on about twenty roles.
THE Illusions begin with a humiliation. Lucien is alone on stage, in front of the curtain. We are still in Angoulême, at Madame de Bargeton’s (Manon Chircen). During this poetic evening, Lucien reads one of his (bad) sonnets and, in the room (among the spectators), a voice is heard, that of Monsieur de Saintot (Frédéric Lapinsonnière, who will be found in the roles of Daniel d’Arthez, Dauriat, Canalis and Hector Merlin). He says he wanted to go to bed. When the curtain rises, on stage, part of the audience is seated in a quadrifrontal position. There will be no set; this is the very judicious choice of the director Pauline Bayle, a follower of raw theatre – and, here, immersive.
Also readOur review of Lost Illusions: Balzac honored by Giannoli, on Canal +
Here, everything is audacious. The playing space becomes a sort of chalk-sprinkled track, subtly iridescent by Pascal Noël’s lighting. The audience on stage becomes “partners” in the play; it represents Parisian society observing these disreputable Balzacian characters. In Paris, Lucien discovers opera, meets Étienne Lousteau (superb Adrien Rouyard), the future novelist Daniel d’Arthez, the publisher Dauriat or Coralie (energetic Zoé Fauconnet), an actress at the Panorama dramatique supported by Camusot… From then on, corruption rears its ugly head and the well-oiled cult scenes follow one another without friction.
Thrilling storyline
Everything is perfectly paced; the lines fly and the cynicism infuses. It is a sadistic pleasure to wallow, under the direction of Pauline Bayle, in this world of journalism which was, according to Balzac, « pure prostitution ». Journalists write without conviction, sell their salad and, above all, their soul for thirty pennies. A bunch of fools. Pauline Bayle has wonderfully combed the 700 pages of Illusions. She made it into a thrilling storyline.
Everything here is cruel. Lucien is “a child who ran after pleasures and the enjoyments of vanity”wrote Balzac of his “hero”, a disreputable character, and his little dirty deeds rather inspire pity. “Lucien had a chance with Madame de Bargeton: he let her leave him. A chance with literature: he abandoned it. A chance with the liberals: he betrayed them (…). This earned him the hatred of his old friends and the contempt of his new ones. It’s not enough to turn your coat. You still have to do it wisely.”wrote Félicien Marceau in Balzac and his world. Very current, right? That’s why actors and actresses are dressed like you and me. Because basically nothing has changed since the 1820s.
Lost Illusionsat the Atelier Theater (Paris 18e), until October 6.
