Palavie

Integration that becomes disintegration. That is the story of PALAVIE, a play about exile written by Valérie Poirier and directed by Julien George. At the heart of the story is Arlette, a pied-noir recently arrived from Algeria. The young woman (Marie Druc) is so anxious to fit in and be like "everyone," in other words, the resident of a Swiss city "where only pine trees grow," that she traps her son (Frédéric Landenberg) in a dangerous spiral and puts her own sanity at risk. The story is painful. But it is also joyful. French-speaking author Valérie Poirier loves her characters so much that she creates spaces where they can breathe. The same is true for the staging. There is no despondency; instead the atmosphere is lightened by the refined directing style and the ingenious visuals. Between dream and reality, narrative and dialogue, the story skilfully navigates the range of emotions in an intimate landscape that evokes the torment of forced displacement without overdramatising it.

Julien George, a Genevan in his 40s, restores classicism to its former glory. Like Jean Liermier, director of the Théâtre de Carouge, Julien George does not seek to revolutionise theatrical forms, but to convey the quality of the texts he stages. Recently, Julien George delighted French-speaking audiences with Feydeau's Puce à l'oreille, fine-tuned down to the last detail. He had no desire to update or reinterpret this legendary farce, but to stage it in its full comic dimension. For PALAVIE the challenge is the same. Through fine touches, subtle movements, careful lighting and delicate sound work, Julien George understatedly conveys the stress of being uprooted – without belabouring the point. We welcome this restraint, which, in its own fashion, deeply affects the spectator.

Marie-Pierre Genecand

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  With
  Nicole Bachmann, Anne-Shlomit Deonna, Marie Druc, François Florey,
  Hélène Hudovernik, Frédéric Landenberg, David Marchetto

  Dramaturgy, assistant director
  Anne-Shlomit Deonna

  Stage design
  Khaled Khouri

  Light
  Philippe Maeder

  Light technic
  Eloi Gianini

  Sound
  Renaud Millet-Lacombe

  Costumes
  Valentine Savary

  Make-up
  Katrine Zingg

  General technic
  Ygal Bohbot

  Administration
  Beatrice Cazorla

  Production
  La Cie Clair-Obscur

  Coproduction
  Théâtre du Grütli-Genève

  Supported by
  La Loterie romande, République et canton de Genève, Fonds d'encouragement à l'emploi des intermittents genevois, Fondation Suisse des Artistes Interprètes

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