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Thierry Vissoneau.
Dlaughter into songs, farandoles into refrains, stories into tales, a whole evening to immerse ourselves in the memory of our elders, that's what the community of communes of Rouillacais wanted.
Remembering the past through the words of elders, traveling through time by taking paths marked by stories, sometimes eccentric, but always authentic.
To record memories and forever preserve the identity of the territory, elected officials entrusted the writing project to La Palène for “Our elders, our memory”.
The artist, actor and director, Thomas Visonneau and the portrait artist Casto are the authors under the direction of Sihem Zaoui and Marie-Annic Roy-Plantevigne.
For the living restitution of this adventure which will have spread over ten months, Thomas Visonneau created a show, whose participants were very young artists, since they are the students of the primary school of Courbillac, and the middle school students of 6e from Claudie Haigneré college in Rouillac.
“Nearly fifty students worked hard”
In front of a packed auditorium, Friday evening, Thomas Visonneau confided “Nearly fifty students worked hard to present this restitution, lasting approximately forty-five minutes. »
The result was striking. Children with obvious expressive abilities brought a lot of emotion, making the words of the elders unforgettable.
Thus, the memories of 75 elders, from Courbillac to Genac-Bignac, from Saint-Genis-d'Hiersac to Rouillac, from Marcillac-Lanville to Mareuil and elsewhere were reported in mimed paintings and embellished with a few familiar words which entertained the audience.
Ten chapters of the work
The spontaneity of the young artists, although not very undisciplined, in any case, happy to be on stage, played a large part in conveying strong emotions. Wet eyes shone here and there in the dim light of the auditorium. Leaving nothing to chance, the ten chapters of the work, referring to slices of life, have been interpreted with the greatest kindness for elders. The decorations are based on the paintings of the designer Casto, inspired by meetings in the villages.
The assembly, made up largely of the families of the elders who had made the trip, the mayors of the towns who had organized the transport, and the families of the artists, “reacted wonderfully with their applause and laughter. It’s a great recognition for the work of the children who gave their all,” observed Thierry Visonneau.
At the exit, young and old chatted around a drink. A joyful atmosphere emanated from this intergenerational evening where memories were clearly at the heart of the exchanges. The probably dean of the evening, Jean-Marie Lhoumeau, from Saint-Amant-de-Nouère, kept retelling the story “I remember… the priest’s car…”.
