Omar-Jo, son manège à lui ・ Comédie-Française

For her 10th time directing at the Comédie-Française and after her 2008 radio program “Trois hommes dans un salon (Three Men in a Living Room)” gathering Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel and Léo Ferré, Anne Kessler is now moving on to podcasts, with a series on children of war. This episode revolves around Omar-Jo, a mutilated young man from Lebanon who sought refuge in France.

Omar-Jo is a character in Andrée Chedid’s L’Enfant multiple (The Multiple Child), a novel illustrating the author’s infallible engagement for peace. She tells the story of a 12-year-old boy, son of a Muslim man from Egypt and a Christian mother from Lebanon, who flees his home country at war after seeing his parents die in the attack which cost him his arm. He finds refuge in Paris and meets an old, rugged carnival worker whose sense of happiness returns thanks to the orphan after Omar-Jo restores his ride to working order.
Author Guy Zilberstein highlighted how unique this coming-of-age novel is: “The discovery process is child-led and inspires adults.” This play transcends fiction by turning Omar-Jo into a mythical figure inscribed in reality. With the rare sensitivity pertaining to her directing, Anne Kessler gives the audience the opportunity to watch the show being recorded and to listen to discussions surrounding its dialectical outlines. Animated debates in between takes occur between the director, theactor-narrator and the sound engineer. The Studio-Théâtre is turned into the “Studio 37”, in which the audience watches Lebanese and Parisian TV archives from the 1980s, with a juxtaposition of the mental and subjective images sprung to the mind of the three characters… their souls projecting captivated hope inspired by Omar-Jo’s dazzling feats.

NEW PRODUCTION

L’Enfant multiple d’Andrée Chedid est publié par les Editions Flammarion.