2023-07-17 07:17:08
On July 9, 1974, a handful of actors set up their trestles in the courtyard of the Château de Mortiercrolles, in Saint-Quentin-les-Anges, about forty kilometers south of Laval. The troupe inaugurates a new festival imagined jointly by Gilles Allard, then director of tourism in Mayenne, and Jean Guichard, at the head of the young National Dramatic Center (CDN) of Angers.
« The Mayenne has an incredible heritage, the idea was to make it rediscover to the Mayenne through theperforming Arts “, says Annie Guichard, who was then working with her father. This first is a real gamble. The town of Saint-Quentin-les-Anges has just over 400 souls. How many will come to applaud TheBarber of Seville of Beaumarchais? 400 chairs have been arranged, the public flocks. “ Eventually, we had to go get the benchesfrom the church ! remembers Annie Guichard. 700 people attended the performance of thisthat night. »
The adventure is launched. Since then, the festival has continued to travel the roads of the department totaling, since 1973, 7,500 artists programmed and 263,000 spectators (90% Mayenne). For this 50th edition, 14 shows are still scheduled in 17 municipalities (1).
Annie Guichard, she traces the journey of her father in the book John Guichard, 70 years of tireless theater (2). A rich story of incredible archives (photographs, press clippings, posters of shows) written first by two then by Annie alone, after the death of her father in 2017.
Theater everywhere, for everyone
When his comrades from the Nantes Conservatory – including a certain Jean Rochefort – dreamed of a career in Paris, Jean Guichard wanted to develop theater in his region.
From 1948, he played imaginary sick with his company, La Baraque à théâtre. The first rounds are made aboard the family 4 CV. He wants authors to be heard, Molière of course, but also Shakespeare and Sophocles by as many people as possible.
In 1959, he created the first festival in La Baule at the invitation of the mayor of the seaside resort and the following year, he was in charge of the prefiguration of the Maison de la culture in Nantes. In 1972, he worked on the creation of CDN d’Angers, one of the first in France. He left in 1985 to launch the Regional Theater of Pays de la Loire, then the Encounters of the Imaginary at the Abbey of Fontevraud between 1992 and 2007.
An ardent defender of theater in the regions, Jean Guichard wanted to dedicate his book to the actors and actresses of decentralization with these few words: “ in tribute to forgotten actors, who left a moment of beauty. »
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