Dying of love? What Great Lover has not experienced the temptation of suicide or has not acted on it, following the abandonment of the madly loved one or the cruel observation of an impossible love, like Goethe's Werther?
History
We are not here in this theme. The story is simple, but uncommon. A jeweler, Paul Klébert, sees a lovely woman, Christelle Verdier, enter his shop, who wants to buy a necklace and a bracelet. He is mesmerized by his hands, fascinated by his neck, struck by his charm; shaken, electrified, shocked and quickly totally enslaved to his image If I decide, I will come back soon, she tells him as she leaves the jewelry store. Paul Klébert sees in her the missing piece of the puzzle of his being, the puzzle of his desires. Each new doorbell ignites a new hope, but quickly falls back before the arrival of a new quidam. Christelle finally comes back to buy the bracelet the necklace whose clasp he will weaken so that she brings it back for repair. She will accept his regular invitations in a brewery, always in the same place, wearing both jewels, witness of their meeting. But this is a one-sided love. Christelle has no feelings for Paul. From being courted woman, she quickly becomes the object of his addiction, which he believes he possesses. It is a narcissistic love in which he and the other are one. Why doesn't she admit to herself that she loves me? he goes so far as to claim. He then falls into madness…
An original and interactive show
Truly original, Love Kills takes place on several levels. This is a trial in the Assize Court that delivers no verdict. It is the audience who at the end of the show decides on the fate of the accused. Voice-overs (the judge, the lawyers, a witness) set out the facts. Paul Klébert, magnificently interpreted by François Cracosky, in a sensitive and touching, fair and profound way, tells the scenes lived with Christelle. We are hanging on his lips. In this alone on stage, he manages to take us into his delirious universe, but without hatred or shrugging of particular tone, with a certain coldness, which would almost push us to believe that he is, him, the victim of this impossible love and that he almost blamed himself, thus attacking Christelle, in whom he saw an inseparable part of his own person. We dive into the abysses of feelings, the meanders of his paranoid delusions. Is he guilty of loving madly? Has madness abolished his discernment? Does love subordinate all reason? It will be up to you to decide, ladies and gentlemen Jurors-Spectators, at the end of a one-hour show, of great suspense, which will upset you. Myriam Grélard's text is beautifully written and chiseled, without unnecessary frills. Its very ingenious staging constantly leads us to question the power of love, and even more of an impossible love! Aren't they ultimately the most powerful, the most tragic, the most exhilarating and the most inspiring? These words of the great poet and singer that was Leonard Cohen to end this chronicle: Love is a fire. He burns everyone. He made everyone ugly. It's the excuse the world has found to be so ugly.
Practical information:
Red Hat Theatre Rue du Chapeau rouge 84000 – Avignon July 7 to 30, 2022 at 5:20 pm Break on July 12,19,26
Writer: Myriam Grélard Actor: François Cracosky Director: Myriam Grélard Prese attaché: Dominique Lhotte
