Théâtre : Manière, une fille simple

A2c / A Simple Girl by La Compagnie à l’envers de soi, based on the novel by Joël Bastard – directed by Martine Sénéchal with Sophie Pernette – adapted by Samuel Jaudon Myriam, nicknamed Manière, is a ‘simple’ girl, as they say. A care assistant at a nursing home for the elderly run by Poor Clares in the Jura, she wins the affection of both the staff and the residents. Her need to be loved leads her to indulge the whims of Jas, the gardener. Burdened by a terrible secret, Manière builds herself a dream life within the pages of magazines that weren’t yet called ‘celebrity magazines’ in the 1950s. “The people in magazines have hair that looks a lot like light. They have loads of hair; we never have enough. When they walk, they look like people who love you deep in their eyes.” The author Whereas others – faced with a shattered childhood and youth – might slip into sadness, tears and pathos, Joël Bastard focuses instead on the glimmers of light and immersion in an almost untamed natural world. He does not pity Myriam / Manière. He follows her through her daily life, her moments of tenderness, her excesses, her hyperactive mind, her extravagant dreams and her frequent flashbacks. His restraint mirrors this empathy – discreet yet wholehearted – which enables him to place a woman with a complex and endearing personality at the heart of a deeply compelling narrative. “A great moment with Manière, a simple girl” by J.L Pradines for Montceau News “(…) Actress Sophie Pernette’s performance in the role of Myriam was unanimously acclaimed. She carries the character from start to finish in an extraordinary manner, without faltering or losing her way, and draws the audience into the shadow of her secrets. The set design and the meticulously precise direction allow the actress to fully embody the character, to bring out the best in and elevate Joël Bastard’s text. Samuel Jaudon’s coherent and faithful adaptation, Martine Sénéchal’s spot-on and precise direction, and Sophie Pernette’s sensitive, powerful and deeply committed performance make this production a truly great moment in theatre, where laughter and emotion rub shoulders with poetry and unsettling realism. (…)”