2023-08-25 09:24:24
She is the silent witness of an ephemeral that lasts. In the cramped vestibule of the Théâtre de la Huchette, a slate announces the distribution of the day: a few names drawn in chalk, under which is declined a five-digit number. In the August humidity, it rose that evening to 19,781. A wipe down and the next day, a unit will be added to this count that defies all records. La Huchette has the world’s longest running show in one place.
Since February 16, 1957, from Tuesday to Saturday, winter and summer – with the exception of two weeks of closure per year -, two short plays by Eugène Ionesco, The bald singer et Lesson hold the Huchette poster. Invariably, the evening begins at 7 p.m. with the chime of an English household clock. ” Here, it’s nine o’clock notes Mrs. Smith, kicking off wacky dialogues, where talking to say nothing suddenly becomes terribly subversive.
The theater nestled in an interlacing of colorful restaurants and souvenir stalls will celebrate the 20,000th performance at the dawn of next spring. The stagings, signed Nicolas Bataille for TheSingerbald and Marcel Cuvelier for Lesson, as well as the sets by Jacques Noël for both, are the original ones. Much more than a curiosity, the longevity of Ionesco’s shows tell a formidable artistic epic and the strength of texts whose heights of absurdity resonate in an ever crazier world.
Five actors per character
« Philology leads to the worst “, warns the Maid when the teacher of Lesson, Exasperated by the arithmetic errors of his young pupil – excellent in addition but paralyzed by subtractions – leads him into the mysteries of language.
That evening, it was Nathalie Bigorre who played the maids of the two plays. The actress is one of the latest arrivals in the troupe made up of around fifty artists. In the single dressing room, separated from the stage by a corridor common to the inhabitants of the building, the costumes line up wisely on the rods, while name lockers are stacked on the shelves. The different characters each have five interpreters who, according to a well-oiled rotation, take turns to ensure the performances throughout the year.
« We play two or three weeks then we go back to other engagements before coming backexplains Stéphanie Chodat, who embodies the student of Lesson since 1998. La Huchette is our home! »
She herself was not six years old when she first came to this theater to see her father play the teacher in the same play. It was he, later, who made him repeat the role before the audition led by Marcel Cuvelier, the now deceased director, whose daughter has since taken up the torch. Since 1957, the plays have thus remained alive, passing from one generation to another within a troupe whose members are members, ” like at the Comédie-Française smiles Gérard Bayle, actor of La Huchette since 1983.
Handover
« It’s really a story of transmissionsummarizes Nathalie Bigorre. The first time I played, Odette Barrois, one of the historical interpreters of my role, had just disappeared. I felt something very strong in being there on this stage where so many actors stood. Gérard Bayle, dashing octogenarian, is convinced: actors have played Ionesco before us, others will play him after. There is no reason for it to stop! »
However, as in Lesson, the equation is not so simple. La Huchette, private theatre, lives only on its receipts “recalls its director Franck Desmedt. For now, the success of the Ionescos, in particular The bald singerdid not contradict himself.
« The public is quite eclecticsays the director. Tourists for a third, to whom we offer sessions with English surtitles. The second third is made up of schoolchildren and finally, we receive a lot of fans, grandparents for example who bring their grandchildren. A true heritage site, La Huchette also fills up every evening after the Ionescos with a contemporary piece (1), distinguishing itself in recent years in the register of musical entertainment. A theater in perpetual reinvention for a resolutely living art.
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The milestone of the 20,000th performance soon passed
The Théâtre de la Huchette places its 2023-2024 season under the sign of the 20,000th performance of The bald singer and of Lesson. This new record, which should be reached on March 2, 2024, will be celebrated throughout the year by exhibitions and numerous events.
On this occasion, the theater is adopting a new graphic charter that encompasses both historical shows and creations.
The bald singer was given for the first time in 1950 at the Théâtre des Noctambules, which no longer exists today, before being revived at La Huchette in 1957.
With its 85 seats, La Huchette is one of the smallest theaters in Paris. Its plateau is 4 meters wide and 5 meters deep.
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