The curtains remain lowered in the theaters, but “recordings” are there to recall the vigor of the live performance. “Theater is an integral part of life. It is the lung of society. There is something of the order of the irreversible with the presence of artists in the human community ”, likes to say Simon Abkarian, whose play the Last Day of the Fast is broadcast on Friday on France 5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUGBn50bSNM
The subtitle A neighborhood tragicomedy almost sums up the adventure, somewhere on the Mediterranean rim, where the characters radiate a southern accent. The cast is in unison, gently earthy, with Simon Abkarian, Ariane Ascaride, David Ayala alternating with Michel Bompoil, Assaad Bouab, Pauline Caupenne, Laurent Clauwaert, Délia Espinat-Dief, Marie Fabre, Océane Mozas, Chloé Réjon, Catherine Schaub-Abkarian, Igor Skreblin alternating with Slim El Hedli.
Between Greek divinities and contemporary housewives
And we laugh a lot in this tragicomedy created in 2014 at the Théâtre du Soleil, then hosted by Ariane Mnouchkine, interrupted due to the Covid crisis, after only four performances during this Parisian revival in 2020.
The Last Day of the Fast is a feminist play, in the sense that women speak out, blowing an invigorating mistral on the freedom they claim. These women, who alternate between Greek divinities and contemporary housewives, philosophize about patriarchal power, the right to love, the rejection of violence, even family violence.
Here, the judgment is certainly radical. However, the people, to whom the word is given, never cries out for revenge, but justice. In an atmosphere close to the cinema of the years 1950-1960. And life continues in the sun, family confusion and budding love on the menu, to drink to music. A happiness to share.
