Nous sommes repus mais pas repentis

“We are sated but unrepentant (Ritter, Dene, Voss)”

Presenting a burlesque and vitriolic familial trio, Séverine Chavrier joins forces with Thomas Bernhard to express “excellence and degradation, submission and tyranny, lust for life and powerlessness”.

Voss, an ailing, neurasthenic and puerile philosopher, leaves his care home in order to bully his sisters, Ritter et Dene, two actresses condemned “for life” to smothered flesh. We find ourselves in the realms of family ostracism, set against a background of broken cups and saucers strewn across the floor…

For Séverine Chavrier, director, pianist and actress, this work which uses the play Ritter, Dene, Voss as its starting point as well as other works by Bernhard, allows us to feel the full force of this writer’s voice and his obstinate cursing. He uses exaggeration in order to heighten his constant denunciations, ranting and raving, to the point of self-destruction, about the continued fascinations at play in our dear old Europe. As the play takes us from one massacre to the next, little is to be expected in terms of catharsis. On the contrary, “it’s not about not sticking the pieces back together but smashing them up even more”, in a darkly vehement – and occasionally humorous – way.

Text Thomas Bernhard

Conception Séverine Chavrier

With Laurent Papot, Séverine Chavrier, Marie Bos

set design Benjamin Hautin
dramaturgy Benjamin Chavrier
sound design Frédéric Morier
video Jérôme Vernez
artistic assistant Maëlle Dequiedt

with the participation of the students from the Conservatoire de Lausanne, directed by Magali Bourquin:
Isabeau Trinca (piano)
Jeanne Moeschler (violin)
Emile Traelnes (cello)

Elizaveta Petelina (piano)
Arthur Traelnes (violin)
Camille Thévoz (cello)

Duration : 2h15

Production Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, La Sérénade Interrompue

Coproduction Odéon – Théâtre de l’Europe, CDN Besançon Franche-Comté

With the help from SPEDIDAM, Pro Helvetia – Fondation suisse pour la culture, the DRAC- Île de France

set pictures (c) Samuel Rubio
outdoors pictures (c) Jérôme Vernez