The story is that of ordinary people who experience the absurdity of wars.
There is Gaston, the oldest, Michelle, her daughter and Jean Blanchard her husband. All three live simply from their few acres of land in Ambierle in the Loire when on August 2, 1914 the order for general mobilization is launched.
And then there is Her, the Lady in Black, the voice of the shadows, perhaps fate... She is the spokesperson for all those soldiers who have remained silent, dead on the field of honour.
Through an epistolary exchange, taken from letters exchanged by Michelle and Jean-Blanchard as well as texts by authors such as: Dorgelès, Barbusse, Giono and others, the spectators follow the course of the men in the trenches and that of those who stayed behind during the great war.
During the narration, a dramatic event: the execution of Jean Blanchard, unjustly shot for example in Vingré, breaks the chronology of the story and propels the spectators into a kind of timelessness through texts by Primo Lévi, Jacques d'Arnout or Richard Addington relating to the Second World War, the war in Yugoslavia or that of Iraq. The fighter is everywhere the same...
Text: Multiple authors (Giono, Dorgelès, Barbusse, hairy...)
Adaptation and Staging: Jean-Louis Wacquiez
With: Delphine Magdalena, Jean-Bernard Philippot, Jean-Louis Wacquiez, Charlotte Joliveau or Jeanne Quibel.
Lighting design: Jean-Bernard Philippot
Director: Patrice Leduc
Costumes: Brigitte Mien
Administration: Julie Donadini and Nicolas Berthelot
“Very strong feelings, remarkably interpreted!
A very beautiful show that you absolutely have to discover!”
THE UNION
"Carnets de Guerre is a play that we highly recommend! It is with emotion that the actors send us back to the memory work that we all have to do. An unparalleled staging, a game in which you can feel a real desire on the part of the actors to share their emotions and feelings.
RADIOMIX Avignon Festival 2009
"It was in front of a packed house that the four actors were able to convey, via the text of the letters exchanged between Jean Blanchard and his wife Michelle and pacifist songs, beaucoup d'emotions._cc781905- 5cde-3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_ A long round of applause and a “standing ovation” greeted their performance before a few exchanges took place.
THE PROGRESS of LYON 2012
"Coming yesterday, May 19, 2014, to see you in Craonne with my 9th grade class, who hummed the hairy song with you…
A BIG thank you for your show, Diaries of war, which combines a very powerful emotion and a great intelligence, by putting all the strength of the theater at the service, not of yet another commemoration, but of an essential reflection on our world. Bravo for your generosity on stage, the creativity of the staging and the depth of the text. We wish you long pursuit of your beautiful path by lighting, wherever you go, the little lights of thought and pleasure."
Nathalie Bichet - Teacher on the Chemin des Dames
