The secret of secrets in Anthéa-Antipolis, Antibes, by Benoît Soles

Thursday, 6 June 2024

© Stéphane Audran

All it took was an article published in Science et Vie magazine entitled "The recipe for the philosopher's stone has been deciphered" to plunge Benoît Solès back into the inspiration of his childhood and launch him into writing a new theatre script. After deciphering the message of "La machine de Turing" (The Turing Machine), a play that earned him the Molière Award for Best Playwright and Best Actor, the French playwright continues to be fascinated by deciphering another universe, also rooted in historical reality: that of Arthur Die, an English alchemist of the 16th and 17th centuries, to whom Megan Piorko devoted her thesis until she discovered that he held the recipe for this elixir: "antimony", found in particular in the autopsy of Mozart, who is said to have died after consuming too much of it, and in that of Napoleon.

In an atmosphere reminiscent of an English library projected onto the backdrop, with torrential rain sliding down the windows; within the walls of the café known as "the last word"; in an atmosphere of secret codes and pendants channelling spiritual forces; through an alchemist's vocabulary of witchcraft recipes, antidotes, symbols, and ancient secrets buried in the little notebook of a deceased scholar, the club of four young actors travels back in time, investigating the language of angels, the stone of life, the stuff of dreams, defying death or rather... life!

The philosopher's stone, source of unquenchable light, eternal life, substance that transmutes base metals into gold, fascinates those who crave mystery and magic, infinite solutions to the finitude of their earthly lives. But beyond this fictional investigation lies an even more existential mystery, that of the nature of human beings who seek outside themselves the answer to their inner mysteries... Could the secret of the philosopher's stone (philosophical?) simply lie in the heart of man?

Nathalie AUDIN

Text and direction: Benoit Solès

based on academic research by Megan Piorko, phd

with Mathilde Moulinat, Montaine Fregeai, Axel Godard, Gabriel Gozlan

Decor Juliette Azzopardi, Jean-Benoit Thibaud

Videos Mathias Delfau

Light Denis Schlepp

Music Romain Trouillet

Costumes Nathalie Bérard-Benoin

Assistant director Sophie Nicollas

Production Atelier Théâtre Actuel

Coproduction Morcom Prod, FIVA, ACME, théâtre Rive-Gauche, Théâtre de la Pépinière, anthéa,théâtre d’Antibes