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Savannah Bay
Tu ne sais plus qui tu es, qui tu as été, tu sais que tu as joué, tu ne sais plus ce que tu as joué, ce que tu joues, tu joues, tu sais que tu dois jouer, tu ne sais plus quoi, tu joues. Ni quels sont tes rôles, ni quels sont tes enfants vivants ou morts. Ni quels sont les lieux, les scènes, les capitales, les continents où tu as crié la passion des amants. Sauf que la salle a payé et qu'on lui doit le spectacle. Tu es la comédienne de théâtre, la splendeur de l'âge du monde, son accomplissement, l'immensité de sa dernière délivrance. Tu as tout oublié sauf Savannah, Savannah Bay. Savannah Bay c'est toi.
144 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
2 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Marguerite Duras
397 books3,322 followersMarguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu , known as Marguerite Duras, was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film Hiroshima mon amour (1959) earned her a nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 28, 2025
3,5*
MADELEINE: “Sabe alguma coisa da morte?”
RAPARIGA: Ela sorri e diz: “Por enquanto nada, nada, excepto a vida da qual ela vem.”
“Savannah Bay”, peça encenada pela própria Marguerite Duras em 1983 e, a título de curiosidade, levada a palco por Filipe La Féria em 1985, abre com o tema “Les Mots d’Amour” de Édith Piaf, o que nos prepara logo para uma história de amor infeliz. Em palco está Madeleine, já de alguma idade, e uma rapariga sem nome, cuja ligação poderemos inferir posteriormente.
Com uma memória já debilitada e instigada pela jovem, a mulher mais velha conta como ainda procura o homem que a sua filha amara intensa e fatalmente há muitos anos.
RAPARIGA: É um homem que chora.
MADELEINE: É um homem inconsolável por ter perdido uma mulher. (Pausa) Amo-o assim, assim privado do objecto do seu amor, como teria amado o meu amante. A partir do momento em que o vejo, sinto um desejo muito grande do seu corpo privado dela.
MADELEINE: “Sabe alguma coisa da morte?”
RAPARIGA: Ela sorri e diz: “Por enquanto nada, nada, excepto a vida da qual ela vem.”
“Savannah Bay”, peça encenada pela própria Marguerite Duras em 1983 e, a título de curiosidade, levada a palco por Filipe La Féria em 1985, abre com o tema “Les Mots d’Amour” de Édith Piaf, o que nos prepara logo para uma história de amor infeliz. Em palco está Madeleine, já de alguma idade, e uma rapariga sem nome, cuja ligação poderemos inferir posteriormente.
Com uma memória já debilitada e instigada pela jovem, a mulher mais velha conta como ainda procura o homem que a sua filha amara intensa e fatalmente há muitos anos.
RAPARIGA: É um homem que chora.
MADELEINE: É um homem inconsolável por ter perdido uma mulher. (Pausa) Amo-o assim, assim privado do objecto do seu amor, como teria amado o meu amante. A partir do momento em que o vejo, sinto um desejo muito grande do seu corpo privado dela.
Want to read
March 9, 2018Net gekocht in Lille for obvious reasons.
May 6, 2023
Denne synes jeg var veldig fin. Slik jeg leser den er det en samtale mellom en eldre morsfigur og en yngre kvinne om den eldres liv. Stykket refererer til seg selv et par ganger, de er klar over at de er på en scene. Derfor er det litt uklart om alt er et minne, en fantasi. Er kvinnene samme person? Hvor sann er historien de forteller? Foregår stykket i etterlivet? I hodet?
Minner meg også litt om å snakke med min gamle bestemor. Veldig rørende <3
Anbefaler også å lese det på svensk om du kan. Føler det er mer poetisk ?
Minner meg også litt om å snakke med min gamle bestemor. Veldig rørende <3
Anbefaler også å lese det på svensk om du kan. Føler det er mer poetisk ?
Read
March 26, 2015"Me dijiste el dolor se propone, como una solucion al dolor, como un segundo amor". Una obra de teatro que se lee como un gran poema, magnifica y llena de silencios y soledad y de citas brutales de un amor que ya no esta.
December 27, 2024
Utrolig fin
April 24, 2021
Les points négatifs :
- Je suis désolée mais je n'ai absolument rien compris à cette histoire. On ne sait jamais quel est le lien entre les deux femmes (Duras elle-même n'en sait rien, si l'on en croit les didascalies), on ne sait pas si Madeleine raconte une histoire qui s'est réellement passée ou bien un pièce de théâtre qu'elle a jouée sur scène, on ne sait pas grand chose en fait. J'ai refermé le livre en me demandant vraiment ce que je venais de lire.
- Le style n'est pas assez beau pour soutenir une œuvre dans laquelle l'intrigue est incompréhensible !! On est loin de L'Amant (dans lequel j'avais l'impression que chaque mot avait sa place, que chaque virgule était importante).
Les points positifs :
- Intéressant de voir un personnage de femme mûre/âgée, qui sont encore trop peu représentées dans la littérature.
- J'ai (re)découvert une chanson d'Edith Piaf (très importante dans la mise-en-scène de la pièce), : Les mots d'amour, qui a des paroles envoûtantes.
- Je suis désolée mais je n'ai absolument rien compris à cette histoire. On ne sait jamais quel est le lien entre les deux femmes (Duras elle-même n'en sait rien, si l'on en croit les didascalies), on ne sait pas si Madeleine raconte une histoire qui s'est réellement passée ou bien un pièce de théâtre qu'elle a jouée sur scène, on ne sait pas grand chose en fait. J'ai refermé le livre en me demandant vraiment ce que je venais de lire.
- Le style n'est pas assez beau pour soutenir une œuvre dans laquelle l'intrigue est incompréhensible !! On est loin de L'Amant (dans lequel j'avais l'impression que chaque mot avait sa place, que chaque virgule était importante).
Les points positifs :
- Intéressant de voir un personnage de femme mûre/âgée, qui sont encore trop peu représentées dans la littérature.
- J'ai (re)découvert une chanson d'Edith Piaf (très importante dans la mise-en-scène de la pièce), : Les mots d'amour, qui a des paroles envoûtantes.
November 19, 2025
Aucun auteur ne manie la littérature comme le fait Duras
Sa pièce de théâtre se lit comme un roman, l’autrice se joue des didascalies tout comme elle se joue du genre, et comme d’habitude, nous donne les plus belles répliques sur l’amour et sur le poids en nous de la mort
Son talent pour décrire les émotions est aussi juste qu’inégalable à mon sens, et je rêverais de voir se jouer une de ses pièces pour m'assurer que les details des émotions sont bien capturés
Non vraiment, Marguerite Duras est une pépite 🥰
Sa pièce de théâtre se lit comme un roman, l’autrice se joue des didascalies tout comme elle se joue du genre, et comme d’habitude, nous donne les plus belles répliques sur l’amour et sur le poids en nous de la mort
Son talent pour décrire les émotions est aussi juste qu’inégalable à mon sens, et je rêverais de voir se jouer une de ses pièces pour m'assurer que les details des émotions sont bien capturés
Non vraiment, Marguerite Duras est une pépite 🥰
July 10, 2021
Wie ein Prosa Gedicht vielleicht. Aber Duras schreibt generell sehr lyrisch, das hier ist keine Ausnahme.
Ich bin eigentlich kein großer Fan davon, Theaterstücke zu lesen, aber dieses hat mir sehr gut gefallen.
Ich bin eigentlich kein großer Fan davon, Theaterstücke zu lesen, aber dieses hat mir sehr gut gefallen.
January 28, 2023
On ne comprend pas tout, mais il y a dans cette pièce une douceur qui fait poursuivre le récit, drôle de ballet entre ces deux femmes. Et gros avantage de cette édition, en deuxième partie l'adaptation de la pièce dans une version plus courte permet de comprendre mieux certains points qui peuvent échapper dans la première version...
Et qu'il est souvent beau de mêler théâtre, chant et souvenirs...
Une pièce qui parle d'amour, de mémoire, de famille et de théâtre.
Et qu'il est souvent beau de mêler théâtre, chant et souvenirs...
Une pièce qui parle d'amour, de mémoire, de famille et de théâtre.
May 3, 2020
J'aime pas beaucoup lire les pièces de théâtre. Mais j'adore Mme. Duras autant que je l'ai fait quand même. J'ai aimé beaucoup le thême de << la splendeur de l'âge. >> Donc, c'est rafraîchissant et même radical à lire de la prose qui fête la vieillesse de la femme.
March 3, 2020
Absolutely beautiful! Full Duras experience in just a few pages. Brilliant as always.
September 30, 2021
C'est beau mais je n'ai pas tout compris.
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February 2, 2024Duras, toujours
April 15, 2024
Well.. thats kind of really very much depressing..
October 16, 2024
How much does the didascalie (stage directions) change the course of the play? Up until this one, I would say not much. More often than not, we can infer the stage directions simply from the characters' parts. But how do you show crawling fear? How do you show thoughts? How do you show your memory slowly crawling away?
Savannah Bay, like most of Duras's body of work, is experimental. Made me think of Wayne McGregor's Woolf Works, particularly Act III, The Waves. The point is understanding nothing, I think. The fragmented human communication, the fleeting nature of memory, this is what this text is about. It could have happened at Savannah Bay, at Mosquito Bay, at the beach in Antibes, on the Gold Coast, on the banks of Volga. The human experience is universal. The waves of our lives wash over us over and over again, like the recurring sea motif in this play.
Duras noted that she likes to think la Jeune Femme and Madelaine are relatives, likely daughter and mother. What is it, to watch someone forget you? Just a wave of life? A tsunami, perhaps?
Savannah Bay, like most of Duras's body of work, is experimental. Made me think of Wayne McGregor's Woolf Works, particularly Act III, The Waves. The point is understanding nothing, I think. The fragmented human communication, the fleeting nature of memory, this is what this text is about. It could have happened at Savannah Bay, at Mosquito Bay, at the beach in Antibes, on the Gold Coast, on the banks of Volga. The human experience is universal. The waves of our lives wash over us over and over again, like the recurring sea motif in this play.
Duras noted that she likes to think la Jeune Femme and Madelaine are relatives, likely daughter and mother. What is it, to watch someone forget you? Just a wave of life? A tsunami, perhaps?
July 3, 2015
An unusual story this is.
The play features two women—one a younger unnamed woman, the other an elderly lady named Madeleine. The whole play consists of a dialogue between the two of them. Madeleine is clearly of faltering faculties due to the effects of age, and we get the impression that the story takes place in a nursing home, although this is never explicitly stated. The younger woman appears to be visiting her and helping her, and it is suggested that she is Madeleine's granddaughter.
It is hard to describe the plot seeing as very little is in fact explicitly stated in an explicit fashion; the writer instead opts for a very suggestive technique (and writes such suggestions in the notes for the actors that isn't mentioned in the dialogue). The driving force of the play is more one of an overhanging feeling of loss, obsessive love, death and uncertainty. The story eschews traditional dramaturgical structure for a much more repetitive and less traditional curve. The sea is a much repeated motif in this play (it is suggested that someone, perhaps the young woman's mother, has drowned herself), and I would venture to guess that this motif has influenced the dramaturgy: the repetitions seem much like recurring waves coming in—small shifts in tension and relief, and continuous repetition of certain themes, sentences/words and sentiments.
Personally, I was not fully engaged by this story. I am usually fine with both untraditional dramaturgy and some vagueness, but in this story I felt like there was no real points of grounding, no place to be at ease.
These reservations notwithstanding, some of the suggestiveness, themes (what is real/dream, memory/fiction? How does love connect us? What's the connection between obsessive love and death?) and dialogue was appealing. I also suspect that this play would be much more rewarding in theatre than in book-form which is how I encountered it.
The play features two women—one a younger unnamed woman, the other an elderly lady named Madeleine. The whole play consists of a dialogue between the two of them. Madeleine is clearly of faltering faculties due to the effects of age, and we get the impression that the story takes place in a nursing home, although this is never explicitly stated. The younger woman appears to be visiting her and helping her, and it is suggested that she is Madeleine's granddaughter.
It is hard to describe the plot seeing as very little is in fact explicitly stated in an explicit fashion; the writer instead opts for a very suggestive technique (and writes such suggestions in the notes for the actors that isn't mentioned in the dialogue). The driving force of the play is more one of an overhanging feeling of loss, obsessive love, death and uncertainty. The story eschews traditional dramaturgical structure for a much more repetitive and less traditional curve. The sea is a much repeated motif in this play (it is suggested that someone, perhaps the young woman's mother, has drowned herself), and I would venture to guess that this motif has influenced the dramaturgy: the repetitions seem much like recurring waves coming in—small shifts in tension and relief, and continuous repetition of certain themes, sentences/words and sentiments.
Personally, I was not fully engaged by this story. I am usually fine with both untraditional dramaturgy and some vagueness, but in this story I felt like there was no real points of grounding, no place to be at ease.
These reservations notwithstanding, some of the suggestiveness, themes (what is real/dream, memory/fiction? How does love connect us? What's the connection between obsessive love and death?) and dialogue was appealing. I also suspect that this play would be much more rewarding in theatre than in book-form which is how I encountered it.
July 3, 2007
i'm down with feminist plot structure.
you can make it circular. you can make it waves. you can deny the aristotelean model. you can claim it's the graph of a male orgasm and want to graph the female orgasm instead.
sure.
but that doesnt make it good.
it still has to be well written. i'm just one dude. i dont know much. but i know i would rather watch a marathon of 'the war at home' than reread this play.
and i HATE 'the war at home'.
you can make it circular. you can make it waves. you can deny the aristotelean model. you can claim it's the graph of a male orgasm and want to graph the female orgasm instead.
sure.
but that doesnt make it good.
it still has to be well written. i'm just one dude. i dont know much. but i know i would rather watch a marathon of 'the war at home' than reread this play.
and i HATE 'the war at home'.
November 2, 2023
le théâtre de duras a une force qui me cloue au sol à chaque fois, la force des blancs, des silences, des passages de la violence à la douceur, surtout dans cette pièce.
c’est si fort qu’on est incapable de lâcher le livre, si fort qu’on respire à peine entre deux répliques. cette pièce est à la fois la douceur incarnée et le tourment le plus absolu - c’est magnifique.
c’est si fort qu’on est incapable de lâcher le livre, si fort qu’on respire à peine entre deux répliques. cette pièce est à la fois la douceur incarnée et le tourment le plus absolu - c’est magnifique.
August 30, 2015
Crea imágenes curiosas y vívidas a través de narraciones apasionadas que hacen que la obra, aunque avance agolpada, se disfrute.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews