Cet enfant

by Joël Pommerat

Cet enfant : une succession de scènes courtes autour de la relation parents-enfants, avec des personnages durs et fragiles, terriblement humains. Sans jugement moral, ils interrogent la norme sociale d'un impossible modèle idéal de bonheur familial.

Genres: Theatre, French Literature

42 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2010

About the author

Joël Pommerat was born in 1963. As a Playwright-director, he has devoted himself exclusively to writing for the theatre since 1986, after acting for several years. Seeking to bring his writing to the stage, he founded the Compagnie Louis Brouillard in 1990 and created his first shows at Théâtre de la Main d’Or in Paris (Le Chemin de Dakar, Le Théâtre, Vingt cinq années, Des suées, Les Evénements). In 1995, he wrote Pôles which was originally produced at the Théâtre des Fédérés in Montluçon and then reprised at Théâtre de la Main d’Or. In 1996, a workshop with about 30 actors resulted in the creation of Présences which was performed in Hublot. The next year, after a residency at Montluçon, he went back to work on the same play which became Treize étroites têtes, perfomed at Théâtre des Fédérés, at Théâtre Paris-Villette, at Théâtre Brétigny, and at the Saarbrücken festival. Since 1997, Théâtre Brétigny and the Théâtre Paris-Villette have financed and hosted one or several productions by his company every year. Since 1998, his company’s residency at Brétigny-sur-Orge has been the occasion to develop various projects (writing residencies, writing workshops, collaborative video projects involving the people of the region, workshops, banquet-readings, tasting-readings directed at young audiences, various encounters…)

A network of loyal support has developed around the company (co-productions, residencies, pre-paid productions, invitations): La Ferme de Bel Ebat (Guyancourt), le Centre d’art et de création de Mont-Saint-Aignan, les Ateliers du Rhin (Colmar), le Centre Dramatique national de Normandie – Comédie de Caen, le Centre Dramatique national d’Orléans, le Centre Dramatique de Tours, le Théâtre National de Strasbourg, le Centre Dramatique de Thionville-Lorraine, la Scène nationale de Chambéry…

Joël Pommerat is also interested in the moving image and film. He has made several short films, including a film entitled Visages with Marguerite Bordat, bringing 800 faces in front of the camera.

Joël Pommerat and la Compagnie Louis Brouillard were invited to the Festival D’avignon in July 2006, with Le Petit Chaperon Rouge, Au monde and Les marchands and in July 2008 with Je tremble (1et2).

In 2005, he became an Associate Artist for three years at the Espace Malraux-Scène nationale de Chambéry et de la Savoie. Joël Pommerat and the Compagnie Louis Brouillard have been in residency at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord since 2007 (2007-2010). He is an Associate Artist at the Odéon-Théâtre of Europe at the Ateliers Berthier for three seasons (2010-2013) and at the Théâtre National de Bruxelles

Reviews

[Kianoush Mokhtarpour · Rating 4 out of 5]

روابط تیره‌ی بچه‌ها و پدرومادرشون
نه تا داستان جداگانه، هر کدوم پنج شیش صفحه
تاکید بیشتر روی گفتگوهاست تا اکت بازیگرها. واسه همین خوندنش کم از تماشای اجراش نیست
نسبت به حجمش خیلی خوب بود، نسبت به قیمتش نه

[Pavel Nedelcu · Rating 5 out of 5]

L'ENFANT INTÉRIEUR

"Cet enfant" est une pièce de théâtre écrite en 2006 et mise en scène par Joël Pommerat. À travers une série de dix scènes indépendantes mais thématiquement liées, la pièce explore les relations complexes entre parents et enfants.

Les dialogues réalistes et les situations quotidiennes révèlent les tensions, les incompréhensions, et les espoirs qui façonnent les dynamiques familiales.

La mise en scène minimaliste de Pommerat, caractérisée par des éclairages subtils et une scénographie épurée (aussi visible dans le texte écrit), met l'accent sur l'intensité émotionnelle des interactions entre les personnages.

Une réflexion poignante sur la difficulté de communiquer au sein de la famille. J'ai vraiment beaucoup aimé, et je conseille aussi de regarder quelques productions sur le web (j'en ai facilement trouvé deux).

[Amene · Rating 3 out of 5]

به نظر من پایان‌اش کمی شعاری بود ،اما واقعا پرداخت خوبی داشت.

[Tornade_de_mots · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toujours ce sentiment d'être compris.

[Emma Draws · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pommerat de façon générale, mais cette pièce encore plus.
J’ai fermé le livre en disant au vide de ma chambre « incroyable, incroyable ». Incroyable la justesse de chaque scène, de leur humanité, de ce qu’elles nous font toutes ressentir.

[Indu Muralidharan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a review of the English adaptation 'This Child' by Nigel Gearing, a play consisting of ten unrelated scenes, each one portraying a different aspect of a dysfunctional parent-child relationship. A pregnant woman sees her child as a reason to turn around her life and redeem it from the less than ideal place where she has been pushed to owing to her mother's neglect. A small girl who does not care to see her father anymore. A mother who tries to keep her ten-year-old son at home, jealous of his teachers and friends. A sick father deploring his teenage son's rudeness and a grown-up son reproaching his father's parenting. A mother nagging her grown up daughter on how to live her life and another mother trying to reason why her grown-up daughter is now avoiding her. Most of the scenes are intense, depicting relationships that have gone horribly wrong. The long dramatic monologues are especially powerful. Including a few positive relationships into the mix would have taken the play to another level.