The man Jesus is on the cross. Still alive. And now he detaches himself from the instrument of torture. He descends, takes off his loincloth, dresses in jeans and a T-shirt, runs his hands and feet in water to clean his wounds.
In this time suspended before giving up the spirit, the crucified launches into a long monologue taken from the novel by Amélie NothombThirsty, adapted and directed by Catherine d’At. In this text published in 2019, the writer imagines what were the inner feelings of Jesus at the time of his passion. She revisits the Gospels with great freedom and without concern for orthodoxy. It explores the meaning of the incarnation, making a Jesus speak who lives his bodily condition with intensity, in his joyful or painful moments.
Jesus by turns tender, loving, sarcastic
Catherine d’At’s staging brings to light the harshness of Amélie Nothomb’s text, a thousand miles from a sweet meditation on passion. At the heart of the ordeal, doubts, inner torments, self-loathing, anger are heard. Alone on a stage decorated with blocks of stone, Julien Bleitrach brilliantly embodies a Jesus who is by turns tender, loving, sarcastic, as when he recalls his first meeting with Judah, serious and even revolted also because of the fate that befell him. is reserved.
To fight against suffering and unbearable thoughts, the man of sorrows resorts to other thoughts. He remembers the happy moments which act as a balm in the heart of the ordeal, like this first miracle, his “favourite”: that of the Wedding at Cana during which he was able to take a few dance steps with his mother.
There is the memory of the beautiful face of the beloved Madeleine, whose mere presence at the foot of the cross is enough to quench thirst. He also remembers Simon of Cyrene or Véronique, whom he met that very day when climbing to Golgotha and who, by their gestures, froze time for a few moments, making the ordeal more bearable.
Fulfillment
But all these consolations are fleeting as the inevitable of death looms. The play culminates in the scene of revolt where Jesus belches more than he speaks, raising his anger towards a father who seems to have abandoned him. An intense moment which will find its fulfillment in the total consent to a yes already given and which will allow the crucified to find his place: on the cross.
Which cannot fail to lead the viewer to question the quality and depth of his own consents. A very convincing show on the form but which can confuse those who are unfamiliar with the writing of Amélie Nothomb.