Tuesday January 14, at the Paul-Mauvezin cultural center in Fumel, 200 middle and high school students attended the performance of “Demande à Alma” by the Bordeaux company Anamorphose, as part of the ambitious “young audience” program of Fumel-Vallée of the Lot.
On several occasions in the past, Laurent Rogero, playwright, director and actor, had excited the young people of the region. His creations generally offered interpretations of famous myths, such as those of Dom Juan, Perseus or Ulysses. His latest creation, “Sauvages”, invited the long journey of migratory birds.
With “Ask Alma”, no great journey, no heroic battles. And for good reason! Alma, the very old lady of 12e floor of tower B, is stuck in her chair and, recently, has been losing her mind somewhat. If she doesn't travel, it's the people of the city who travel to her apartment, whose front door has been lent to extend the tables for a neighbor's wedding. And just like the sea for Ulysses, the city becomes the world of all dangers.
-Butterfly, or the art of transformation
No Cyclops to imprison the characters, no mermaid to lure them into their nets, no more Circe to transform them into pigs. However, the incursion of external events and the cruelty of men, sometimes as ferocious as that of the ancient gods, bring Alma and her traveling companions into the tumults of life. The city also becomes the world of all possibilities, as long as so-called “ordinary” heroes, like Alma, fight with kindness and tenacity, so that solidarity takes precedence over all modern monsters.
If the subject is strong, sometimes despairing, Laurent Rogero was able to treat it with enough lightness, even humor. In a production with meticulous choreography, he remarkably embodies Alma in all her goodness. His sidekick, Pélagie Papillon, plays all the inhabitants of the neighborhood with a consummate art of transformation.
