• Monday 2 April 2012 - 20h30
• Tuesday 3 April 2012 - 20h30
• Wednesday 4 April 2012 - 20h30
• Thursday 5 April 2012 - 14h30
• Thursday 5 April 2012 - 20h30
• Friday 6 April 2012 - 20h30
• Saturday 7 April 2012 - 15h00
• Saturday 7 April 2012 - 20h30

SURÉNA, TEARS OF JOY

The audience had laughed for Nicomède, because they had discovered the number of comical elements, Corneille managed to slip under the tragic form. This is something that admiration seems to leave room for when it replaces fear and pity, all the more so
when the unsavoury individuals who govern us are anything but admirable. For Suréna, they cried. Yes, I saw spectators in tears,because in the early stages of the 21st century, when we ponder upon our innermost desires and upon the character we play in
the world, , if disappointed by the ways of the world or harmful policies, as are also the Princes in  Suréna,  we might  take refuge in love – ours or that of our beloved.
That is why it is so moving to hear Eurydice tell us : “A love like ours, a love extreme…”
Shall I admit it? After painstakingly distancing myself a few moments from the performance to which I have impalpably contributed (for, what is there left when you didn’t write the play, when you didn’t direct it and when you don’t play in it? a grin like Alice in Wonderland’s Cheshire cat’s but without the cat?). Yes, I do admit such a theatrical performance is among the ones that justify the very existence of theatre. I had always been waiting for it.
Therefore I will shamelessly say thank you to those, to her  who gave that joy to me… and to you.

 François Regnault

BRIGITTE JAQUES-WAJEMAN & CORNEILLE
1973: She created the Compagnie Pandora, with François Regnault, and she was head of the Théâtre d’Aubervilliers from 1991 to1997.
“ Corneille colonial” cycle: La Mort de Pompée (1983), Sophonisbe (1988), Suréna (1994-5), Sertorius (1996-7), Nicomède (2008-9). Nicomède et Suréna at the Théâtre des Abbesses (Jan.-Feb. 2011).
Other plays by Corneille: Horace (1989), La Place royale (1992 and 1993), L’Illusion comique (2004), Entretiens avec Pierre Corneille (1992). Comédie-Française: Le Cid (2005-6).