“A New York trilogy”, Paul Auster mirroring Igor Mendjisky at the Théâtre de la Ville

In a fresco in the form of a thriller lasting almost four hours with intermissions, Igor Mendjisky declares his love for the American writer Paul Auster and his “New York Trilogy”. Three novels constitute the three stories which intersect detectives and their doubles, writers and their ghosts, prowling in search of identity and truth between Brooklyn and Manhattan. A successful show in the form of an unfulfilled quest, with doubles and characters in search of an author like in Pirandello and labyrinthine paths like in Jorge Luis Borges.

Ghosts and doubles

What do Pirandello and Paul Auster have in common? The brilliant Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello and the New York novelist Paul Auster, who died in 2022, have in common the love of literature and the imagination, the fascination for the mise en abymes and the doubles which multiply in the infinity. Igor Mendjinsky, actor-author and director, finds in Paul Auster a double of himself in a long show that he enjoys exploring with amazing actors, multiplying treasure hunts worthy of Agatha Christie . In City of Glassthree characters from an American detective film come up against concrete walls, closed doors and the mystery of their identity on the fire escapes of Soho or on the gloomy subway platforms of the lower city. A man named Quinn, writer of detective series, flanked by his friend Work who strangely resembles Commissioner Colombo, finds himself caught in the meshes of a mysterious misunderstanding with an obsessive ringing telephone. He is taken for a detective named Paul Auster who is supposed to be investigating Peter Stillman, a university professor with a worrying past. The atmosphere is sulphurous and the music breathtaking, and Pascal Greggory lends his powerful talent to the character of the perverted teacher opposite Thibault Perrenoud (Quinn), Lahcen Razzougui (Work) and Gabriel Dufay (Paul Auster). Two actresses, the blonde Ophélia Kolb and the brunette Rafaela Jirkowsky embody the fantasy of Virginia Stillman, client and director of the investigation.

Inhabited actors

To give body and soul to Returned and to the Hidden roomthe two episodes which complete The City of Glasswe need chameleon actors capable of embodying the false pretenses, the false leads, the inconsistencies and the unbridled imagination of the author. Igor Mendjisky complicates the matter with malicious pleasure, since he is also the narrator of these stories, perched on the first floor of an ingenious scenography, as the host of a radio show. He reads entire extracts from Paul Auster's novels to us, while strange encounters take place downstairs. So a man named Bleu, Félicien Juttner, really goes crazy from observing Noir from his window. We then witness the dizzying split between a writer and his character, an observer and his target. Who becomes who? And what are we made of if not a fantasized imagination, nourished by those who surround us and who obsess us. Thus Ben, the childhood friend of the writer Fanshawe, who finds himself custodian of the work of the man who mysteriously disappeared, also leaving him… his wife. An elegant and fluid staging brings together all these heroes and their doubles who interchange indifferently. Let us note the talent of all the actors inhabited by their roles, with a particular mention for Ophélia Kolb, Gabriel Dufay and Félicien Juttner who transport us to another world. Let yourself be carried away by this strange theatrical journey that magnifies the imagination.

Helene Kuttner