MONSIEUR LINH AND HIS CHILD
PHILIPPE CLAUDEL
En anglais, avec surtitres en français
Premiere of the English-language version
[EN] Mister Linh flees his war-ravaged country in search of a better future for his granddaughter. The devotion he affords the little girl attracts the ridicule of his roommates in the asylum centre. Mister Linh doesn’t feel at home in the foreign land where he finds himself, until one day he meets Mister Bark. Bark talks mainly about his wife who died recently. Mister Linh doesn’t understand him but he listens, his little girl on his lap. They meet on the same bench in the park every day until one day everything changes…
Monsieur Linh and His Child is a moving account of a man forced to escape his country with the little he has left, a man who has to live with his traumatic memories and who can’t let go of the past. Guy Cassiers stages his adaptation of the novella by Philippe Claudel as a monologue. The production will be made in several language versions and in each language, a different local actor will perform.
Following the Flemish premiere in September and the French premiere in March 2018, the English-language version – co-commissioned by Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg – now premieres in Luxembourg starring film and theatre actor Jules Werner. By having Werner perform all the parts – those of the narrator, Mister Linh and Mister Bark – the director gives the production a special flavor, atmosphere and significance. It becomes a performance about the power of imagination and portrayal. But at the same time it is a play about loneliness, about the longing to communicate with others – and not in the last place, with the audience.
Philippe Claudel (1962) is a French author, scriptwriter and film director. He is best known to the general public for the first film he directed himself, I’ve Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t’aime, 2008), a moving story of a mother who is accused of murder after putting an end to the suffering of her terminally ill six-year-old son. In recent years Claudel has become one of the most important French writers of his generation.
» With just one actor and minimal visual means, Guy Cassiers has turned Philippe Claudel’s novel into masterful theatre. Actor Koen De Sutter finds the perfect tone and manner for telling this implacable story. De Volkskrant, Hein Janssen on the Dutch Version of Monsieur Linh and His Child
» The projections often have a poignant beauty because of their sparing use. Narration is the central focus in Mister Linh, and the interventions made by Cassiers – who likes multimedia theatre – are remarkably subtle and rare for his way of doing things. De Morgen, Ewoud Ceulemans on the Dutch Version of Monsieur Linh and His Child
[FR] Rouge décanté, Sang & Roses, La Trilogie du pouvoir, House of the Sleeping Beauties, L’Homme sans qualités: le metteur en scène Guy Cassiers est un habitué du Grand Théâtre. Le revoilà avec La Petite Fille de Monsieur Linh, inspiré du roman de Philippe Claudel.
Monsieur Linh a dû quitter son pays en guerre pour assurer un avenir à sa petite fille. Exilé, isolé, il vit entre un passé qui le hante et un présent qui l’effraie. Il rencontre Monsieur Bark avec qui il va partager un morceau de banc public. Une étrange relation va réunir ces deux hommes qui se parlent et se comprennent au-delà des mots, une sorte d’amitié qui ne se dit pas mais se vit.
Guy Cassiers, très fidèle au roman de Philippe Claudel, construit un monde d’images qui nous font partager le regard de Monsieur Linh. À travers ses yeux, nous sommes surpris comme lui par ce qui vient le frapper parfois durement et vivons avec lui une grande complicité dans sa découverte du monde qui l’entoure.
Après une création en flamand et une première en français avec Jérôme Kircher, c’est maintenant la version anglaise, coproduite par les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, qui verra le jour avec Jules Werner seul en scène interprétant tous les personnages: le narrateur, Monsieur Linh et Monsieur Bark.
» … ce monologue superbement interprété par Jérôme Kircher est d’une grande beauté, qui emporte toute réticence sur son passage. La Terrasse, Éric Demey à propos de la version française de La petite fille de Monsieur Linh
[DIS]
With Jules Werner
Director Guy Cassiers
Text Philippe Claudel
Adaptation Guy Cassiers
Video Design Klaas Verpoest
Sound Design Diederik De Cock
Costume Design Tim Van Steenbergen
Co-production Toneelhuis, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg