Tragedy Festival at the Arènes de Cimiez: "Hélène après la chute" (Helen after the Fall) by Simon Abkarian. War for peace?

Tuesday, 25 June 2024

Published on the website : Resonances Lyriques Org

© Antoine Agoudjian

As summer approaches on the annual calendar, the sky above the Arènes de Cimiez remains dark... Torments of the gods of Greek mythology, as they prepare to relive the tragedy of Helen of Troy? The birthplace of an epic, the tomb of Aphrodite... What if the goddess of love and beauty could be resurrected? This could be the ultimate challenge taken on by Simon Abkarian 1, whose writing displays a richness and a moving lyrical inspiration that cannot fail to overwhelm anyone who listens to it.

© DR

In the room where Helen gave herself to her Trojan lover, Paris, "the most beautiful woman in the world" is reunited with her former husband, the Greek king Menelaus, victor of a cruel ten-year war to win back the woman he loved. His rival, the son of King Priam, has died by his sword. A war of words then supplants that of arms to deliver us the ultimate battle between two broken beings. Accompanied by the song of a long black piano whose hammers strike celestial discord, the two protagonists appear. With her musical soul and spellbinding voice, Macha Gharibian 2, international pianist and singer, accompanies the gruelling duel. This jazzwoman embodies a ghostly and abstract character, whom the two heroes blindly seek out in the fog of their feelings, hoping to find inner peace. "Play, don't stop," Menelaus pleads. Devoted to the noble cause, she carries the notes of wounds, serves the remedies of the heart that the former lovers mix with alcohol in an attempt to resurrect themselves. "Come sit down," "let's be quiet for a moment," "listen," "let's drink"...

In a disturbing poem, interpreted and delivered to perfection by two actors who are as fascinating as they are moving, Simon Abkarian captures the human soul at its source to challenge the evils of humanity with words carved from the pure authenticity of being.

© DR

Around three microphones – the third one, that of the dove that brings peace? That of the referee who separates? That of the silence that rejuvenates? The ghost of the dead? – which the two combatants approach or distance themselves from in the accuracy of the moment: anger, emotions or confidences, the author wields love as the ultimate weapon in this hand-to-hand combat, around a perfect balance of forces. Thus, he arms the warrior Menelaus (Brontis Jodorowsky, admirable and distinguished), often too hastily relegated to the rank of jealous and selfish boor, with the subtle intelligence of the heart. The monarch, marked by the seal of the curse of the Atreides, thus claims the right and the ability of the conqueror to experience weakness, fragility and doubt: "It is night within me", to forgive, and even... to ask for forgiveness.!

© Antoine Agoudjian

In contrast to this "young king frozen in the blood of an old man," this "eagle whose sky has been stolen," he endows Hélène (the unsettling and vibrant Aurore Frémont), often likened to an adulterous whore, with unassailable justice and emotional accuracy. An "indomitable and untamed she-wolf", thirsty for space and freedom, this warrior of emotions chose the smile of a lover over the absence of a king, the graceful vibration of life over the deadly dust of the boredom of a utilitarian and conventional daily life.

Far beyond a retelling of mythology, the author of this masterpiece addresses contemporary couples and, even more so, peoples currently at war, to revive the original flame of peace with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. A supreme jeweller of letters, the author dares to challenge Love with his last breath, addressing the miracle. When there is nothing left to lose, does everything become possible again?…

© DR

To highlight this major challenge, in the courage of wounded egos capable of hearing the worst and stifling pride, it was necessary, in order to bring the 1st-century ruins of Nice into line with the nothingness of the destroyed city of Troy, to strip the characters of all superficial adornment and dress them in tragic black. Here, royalty is felt in the sobriety of the scenography, in the blood of the language, in the panache of thought.

Thus Simon Abkarian writes a veritable hymn to peace on these pages! By imagining the reunion of these two victims, of this divine and human oxymoron, he reverses the course of a tragedy to open a door to the deafness of men. "Talk, listen, forgive, rebuild" could be the four verbs of the same mantra: the joy of living, as a couple and as a society.

A sacred divine lesson in these turbulent times!…

Nathalie AUDIN

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1 Simon Abkarian: French author of Armenian origin and director of some fifteen plays, theatre actor (some fifty plays), film actor (more than 70 films) and television actor.

2 Macha Gharibian: classically trained pianist, singer, author, composer, winner of the “Révélation aux Victoires du jazz” award in 2020. She also produces her own albums. Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2023.

3 Brontis Jodorowsky: theatre actor (around 40 plays), film actor (more than 20 films) and theatre and opera director.

4 Aurore Frémont: theatre and television actress ("Révélation Théâtrale Prix du Syndicat de la Critique 2020" and nominated for the Molières de la révélation féminine 2020).

5 The set design, here completely stripped down (a single huge stage as the backdrop), is very different from that of the production at the Théâtre de l'Athénée-Louis Jouvet in November 2023, which featured mirrors and gilded walls, an opulent sofa and lavish costumes. The photos illustrating our comments show these two seemingly contrasting visions, with the depth of the text and the sensitivity of the actors constituting the true and powerful vectors of emotion.