This is one of the events of the season at the Nîmes theater: Ambre Kahan adapts the monumental novel for the stage The Art of joy, de Goliarda Sapienza.
How did you discover this book by Goliarda Sapienza, The art of joy ?
It was Amélie Casasole, the director of the Nîmes theater, who introduced me to it. We were having a discussion about authors, we were talking about Albertine Sarrazin and I didn’t know Goliarda Sapienza. I didn’t think I would read this book right away when I saw the review! I really started out of curiosity and it’s a novel that doesn’t leave you unscathed. I was caught up and I didn’t try to understand, it was very instinctive, even physical. And it was obvious that I had to bring this text to a platter.
How to adapt such a paving stone, such a sum?
It’s a mystery. It’s an onion, with layers, layers and layers. It’s a lot of patience, a lot of time. It took me four years. We pull a thread, and little by little, we move forward, we sculpt and it takes shape. One of the important lines was to convey to the viewer the sensation that I had experienced as a reader.
What is this feeling that you wanted to convey?
I wanted the viewer to be able to relive moments of joy, of trouble, for the viewer’s involvement to be as strong as when we find ourselves face to face with this language, when we read the book.
This involvement extends through the 5.5 hour duration of the show…
You can’t tell this story in two hours. This cannot be done immediately or efficiently. But it passes quickly. A lot of people come out of the show saying that they didn’t see the time go by. It has a very spectacular form, with the sets, lots of actors, music, rhythm. In addition, at the beginning of the novel, there is frantic writing which is reflected in the show.
Is it like a series?
This can be reminiscent of the series by the length and the multitude of characters. There is suspense, lots of adventure, lots of events. In any case, there is a form of addiction: when you start, you want to know what happens next!
-This novel is above all an ode to freedom…
It is essential to put a little complexity back into the debate. It is a text that brings people together. We highlight the complexity of the human being, of men, of women, of their relationships. It’s close to our lives.
The text also unites because there is no moral lesson…
Absolutely and it does a lot of good! We can make mistakes, it doesn’t matter, we are not perfect. Men can be sensitive, women can be strong and vice versa. It feels good to finally have a woman’s perspective on a woman, but the way she portrays men is also extraordinary.
Men have not yet really taken hold of this book which remains in a kind of enclave. Through theater, we reach a wider audience. There are a lot of men who are there because they are accompanying the lady and who leave quite upset, which is nice.
In the novel, Sicily is a character in its own right. How does she end up on stage?
There is a form of closed session, because it is an island. We have this feeling with the architecture that we have put in place. What was important to me was the horizon. It is an island that faces the continent. How to work on perspectives? It was a big challenge with the scenographer to be able to create different depths, always facing the sea.
The play runs through the entire novel?
The show only tells the first and second part, that is to say from 1900 to 1930. Now, we are working on the sequel. We would like to go to the end. Everyone asks us what happens next! We want to go to the end of this trajectory.
Next to the text there is the story Goliarda Sapienza. Did this touch you?
Yes, a lot. His notebooks are magnificent. As Angelo Pellegrino recounts in his last book, she was buried as an eccentric character but not as an author, she was not recognized at all during her lifetime for her writing. There is a form of madness in there. When you’re the only one who believes in what you’re doing, it’s very special. It is a duty that this work continues and is shared.
