A cavity free dental tragedy
It is 1945 and the war is over. The Spodeks, deported in 1942 can finally come home. Life is supposed to go back to normal. But how do you get back to normal when nothing is the same? Charles, a dentist, and his wife Clara come back to Paris but without their children - one was killed in the camps and the other, who they thought was in safe hands with the nuns, has chosen to convert to Catholicism and never to see her parents again. Their apartment and office have been taken over by “Pure French”. They have to fight .
As surprising as it may seem, Jean-Claude Grumberg, the playwright, and Charles Tordjman, the director, manage to make you laugh during this “dental tragedy”. Somehow, one comes out feeling uplifted by the way the Spodeks face their situation and pain and sometimes even laugh at it.
The play mainly takes place in Charles’ grey dental office (smartly designed by Vincent Tordjman). Charles, subtily played by Philippe Fretun is a taciturn, nervous man terribly angry at himself, the world, and his wife. As Charles causes pain to his patients (but pain that he controls), Clara (beautifully interpreted by Christine Murillo of the Comedie Française), when she stops crying, manages to look at the brighter side of things, and reflect on the future. When the Spodeks finally realize that no matter how hard they try, they can no longer find peace among their former neighbors and family, they decide to leave for the promised land.
Fretun and Murillo are joined by a cast of characters played by two great character actors, Antoine Mathieu and Clotilde Mollet. Among others, Antoine Mathieu plays the author as a child/narrator who literally grows up « on the throne of pain». Clotilde Mollet is particularly convincing as the mother superior who refuses to let the Spodeks see their daughter and hilarious as the cousin who winces when the Spodeks serve ham for Passover. The two regularly come in as a quasi Judeo Greek chorus (with leafy head piece included) to make tongue in cheek comments on the situation and occasionally provide sound effects (ranging from Gregorian chants to a ship’s blow horn).
An extraordinary evening full of Jewish humor and fundamental questions but that you leave with a smile.
http://www.theatremarigny.fr/page_terre.htm
Gail
© Etat-critique.com - 16/11/2009
