Les Enfants du silence ・ Comédie-Française

At a school for the hearing impaired, a speech therapist who teaches the students to use spoken language runs into a former student who has become a cleaning woman and rejects the principle of a normative language that deaf people should submit to.

A genuine plea for the right to difference and sign language, the play Children of a Lesser God has been famous worldwide since the Oscar-winning film by Randa Haines in 1986. One of the things that makes it unique is the fact it is bilingual: it was filmed both in French sign language and spoken French, having been made to address all audiences. “Although it was written by a hearing person and for a hearing audience, since all the signed parts are translated into spoken language, it has always been performed by deaf and hearing-impaired actors.”

For the premiere of this play in April 2015 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, the actors made the huge commitment of learning sign language. “Taking this step to open up to the other is essential, it is what sustained and drove the project”, explains Anne-Marie Etienne. In a very fluid cinematic aesthetic using eight different sets and fourteen changes, the director tells their love story and highlights how social codes determine human relations. She creates a space in which people meet, in search of a way to “live together”.

Creative team

Adaptation française : Jean Dalric et Jacques Collard
Mise en scène : Anne-Marie Étienne
Conseiller technique en langue des signes : Joël Chalude
Décor : Dominique Schmitt
Costumes : Florence Emir
Lumières : Laurent Béal
Son et musique : François Peyrony
Maquillages et coiffures : Cécile Marchione
Assistante mise en scène : Raphaëlle Cambray
Assistante costumes : Siegrid Petit-Imbert