“En addicto”, poetic immersion in the heart of addiction

2023-10-18 19:06:20

“Hello, is everyone ready?” » Affirmative response from some members of the public: yes, the assembly is seated and attentive, ready to discover Thomas Quillardet’s show. Silence, astonishment, then discreet laughter, the spectators fell into the actor’s trap. His purely rhetorical question immediately plunges us into the heart of the day reception of an addiction department, where the doctor he plays addresses a discussion group.

Thomas Quillardet is alone on stage, and yet it is as if we were hearing dozens of voices. Different characters gradually come to life, which only a subtle variation of rhythm or tone allows to distinguish: patients and caregivers inspired by the six-month residency of the actor – also author and director –, immersed in a Parisian hospital. Although he didn’t initially think of making a show out of it, the desire to share his experience gradually came to him. To respect medical confidentiality, first names and biographies have been changed.

A documentary approach

With simplicity and modesty, without ever being boring, the actor addresses the attempts at weaning, the denial of the illness, the exhaustion of caregivers. In a minimalist setting, he is only accompanied by a speaker connected to an MP3 player, which he turns on himself several times to play songs chosen by the patients as part of their therapy. Sitting on a black folding chair, he will only get up once in an hour and twenty minutes.

His documentary approach allows Thomas Quillardet to accurately balance realism and poetry. It offers another look at care and pain, far from clichés and pathos – because we laugh frankly. But closer to the current difficulties of the hospital: since the first performances, the addiction department in which he had immersed himself has closed its doors.

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At the Théâtre de la Ville-Sarah Bernhardt in Paris until October 28. Then at the Jacques-Carat Theater in Cachan, on November 15 and 16, and on the Le Trident stage in Cherbourg, on December 7 and 8.

National tour in 2024: from January 24 to 26 at La Rose des vents in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, from March 8 to 10 at the Théâtre de l’Aquarium in Paris, from April 2 to 5 at the Théâtre de Saint-Quentin-en- Yvelines and from April 9 to 11 at the Théâtre d’Angoulême.