Hécube, pas Hécube ・ Comédie-Française

For his first time working with the Troupe, Tiago Rodrigues, the director of the Avignon Festival, opted to tell the story of Hecuba.

While directly addressing the audience – as is usually done in his productions – he mixes the timeless musings of an ancient Trojan woman with that of a contemporary one, an actress and mother facing similar challenges. Tiago Rodrigues states he does not write for the theatre, but for the actors making up the play. In this production, an actress is rehearsing Euripides’ "Hecuba", more specifically, the part of Priam’s widow. Troy’s defeat in the war made her lose everything: her husband, freedom, and, the most painful thing of all, almost all her children. This woman wants to get justice.
The fictional tragedy is painfully close to that of the actress portraying Hecuba, whose autistic son faced systemic abuse against which she speaks up and tries to fight throughout the play. The audience witnesses an enigmatic combination of rehearsals and fragments from the police investigation. The groundbreaking, crepuscular set highlights the juxtaposition of two worlds unsettlingly blurred into one another, the tragedy of the myth mixed with the pain of real life, the rules of theatre interplayed with that of justice. Following its June 2024 premiere at the Carrière de Boulbon (Festival d’Avignon) and its Salle Richelieu reprise after a tour in 11 European countries and throughout France, the show is making a stop at the 13e art for a special series of performances.

This show premiered on June 30, 2024 at the Carrière de Boulbon (Festival d’Avignon)

A Comédie-Française / Festival d’Avignon joint production

ON THE RADIO
FRANCE CULTURE
Broadcast date to be announced

BOOKING OPENS IN LATE SEPTEMBER 25