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Théâtre : Trois versions de la vie - Une pièce espagnole - Le dieu du carnage - Comment vous racontez la partie
Théâtre rassemble les pièces Trois versions de la vie, Une pièce espagnole, Le dieu du carnage et Comment vous racontez la partie dans un volume inédit.
- GenresTheatre
432 pages, Paperback
First published September 21, 2017
3 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Yasmina Reza
61 books606 followersYasmina Reza began work as an actress, appearing in several new plays as well as in plays by Molière and Marivaux. In 1987 she wrote Conversations after a Burial, which won the Molière Award for Best Author. Following this, she translated Kafka's Metamorphosis for Roman Polanski and was nominated for a Molière Award for Best Translation. Her second play, Winter Crossing, won the 1990 Molière for Best Fringe Production, and her next play The Unexpected Man, enjoyed successful productions in England, France, Scandinavia, Germany and New York. In 1995, Art premiered in Paris and went on to win the Molière Award for Best Author. Since then it has been produced world-wide and translated into 20 languages. The London production received the 1996-97 Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award. Screenwriting credits include See You Tomorrow, starring Jeanne Moreau and directed by Didier Martiny. In September 1997, her first novel, Hammerklavier, was published.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 24, 2022
Thinking of getting this bind-up edition of four of Reza's plays since my current editions of these plays don't match each other. Yes, I'm petty like that. Thought I'd take the opportunity to re-direct you to my individual reviews for these plays (not all brilliant but definitely fun!):
Trois versions de la vie - 3 stars
Trois versions de la vie is a 4-person play reduced to a classic basic situation. The married couple Finidori (Hubert and Ines) visits another, by an accident, however, a day too early, which exposes and intensifies the main conflict even faster. In itself, the issue is whether the host, Henri, is allowing his career to be protected by his guest, Hubert (both men are astrophysicists); to the fore on this evening, however, is the problem of how Henri is dealing with a piece of news mentioned seemingly in passing by Hubert, which may render his three-year research paper, about to be completed, moot.
Also, the host couple has a child who keeps calling for his parents from the nursery, which causes repeated arguments about parenting principles. What confrontations and shifting coalitions develop, or could develop, out of all this is played out on stage in three "versions" (as the original title goes).
Une pièce espagnole - 2 stars
Une pièce espagnole is a play by Yasmina Reza, created on January 20, 2004, at the Théâtre de la Madeleine in Paris, directed by Luc Bondy. Five actors rehearse a comedy: a family reunion during which a mother introduces her two daughters and her son-in-law to the new man in her life, a widowed building manager...
Le dieu du carnage - 5 stars
Le dieu du carnage is a play by Yasmina Reza and was first published in 2008. It is about two sets of parents, one of whose child has hurt the other at a public park. They agree to meet to discuss the matter in a civilized manner. However, as the evening goes on, the parents become increasingly childish, resulting in the evening devolving into chaos.
Comment vous racontez la partie - 2 stars
Comment vous racontez la partie is a play by Yasmina Reza, published by Flammarion in March 2011. The world premiere took place on October 4, 2012, in Berlin, at the Deutsches Theater, staged by Stephan Kimmig under the title Ihre Version des Spiels, with Corinna Harfouch and Karhrin Wichmann.
Nathalie Oppenheim, novelist, is invited to the "espace polyvalent" of Vilan-en-Volène for a debate to talk about her last book. She has to face the journalist Rosanna Artel-Keval in a debate supervised by Roland Boulanger (who writes poems) who tries to calm down the game. Indeed, Nathalie is reluctant to answer Rosanna's questions and she gets annoyed. Later, we find these three characters at a reception at the town hall of Vilan-en-Volène where they are joined by the mayor of the place.
Trois versions de la vie - 3 stars
Trois versions de la vie is a 4-person play reduced to a classic basic situation. The married couple Finidori (Hubert and Ines) visits another, by an accident, however, a day too early, which exposes and intensifies the main conflict even faster. In itself, the issue is whether the host, Henri, is allowing his career to be protected by his guest, Hubert (both men are astrophysicists); to the fore on this evening, however, is the problem of how Henri is dealing with a piece of news mentioned seemingly in passing by Hubert, which may render his three-year research paper, about to be completed, moot.
Also, the host couple has a child who keeps calling for his parents from the nursery, which causes repeated arguments about parenting principles. What confrontations and shifting coalitions develop, or could develop, out of all this is played out on stage in three "versions" (as the original title goes).
Une pièce espagnole - 2 stars
Une pièce espagnole is a play by Yasmina Reza, created on January 20, 2004, at the Théâtre de la Madeleine in Paris, directed by Luc Bondy. Five actors rehearse a comedy: a family reunion during which a mother introduces her two daughters and her son-in-law to the new man in her life, a widowed building manager...
Le dieu du carnage - 5 stars
Le dieu du carnage is a play by Yasmina Reza and was first published in 2008. It is about two sets of parents, one of whose child has hurt the other at a public park. They agree to meet to discuss the matter in a civilized manner. However, as the evening goes on, the parents become increasingly childish, resulting in the evening devolving into chaos.
Comment vous racontez la partie - 2 stars
Comment vous racontez la partie is a play by Yasmina Reza, published by Flammarion in March 2011. The world premiere took place on October 4, 2012, in Berlin, at the Deutsches Theater, staged by Stephan Kimmig under the title Ihre Version des Spiels, with Corinna Harfouch and Karhrin Wichmann.
Nathalie Oppenheim, novelist, is invited to the "espace polyvalent" of Vilan-en-Volène for a debate to talk about her last book. She has to face the journalist Rosanna Artel-Keval in a debate supervised by Roland Boulanger (who writes poems) who tries to calm down the game. Indeed, Nathalie is reluctant to answer Rosanna's questions and she gets annoyed. Later, we find these three characters at a reception at the town hall of Vilan-en-Volène where they are joined by the mayor of the place.
April 27, 2025
The question is not whether to like Yasmina Reza’s plays or not, but rather which kind of her plays to like!
This book offers you 4 plays, chronologically ordered: ‘Trois versions de la vie’ (2000), ‘Une pièce espagnole’ (2004), ‘Le dieu du carnage’ (2008) and 'Comment vous racontez la partie' (2014). They are of two quite different types and the intriguing point is that the first and the third are of the same type, and the second and the forth are of another type. Will the real Yasmina Reza please stand up?
Anyhow: In ‘Une pièce espagnole’ five actors are rehearsing for a play by the Spanish writer Olmo Panero. Panero’s play is about a mother and two of her three grownup daughters. One of them is a film actress, the other one is a theatre actress married to a teacher (During the play she’s rehearsing for a new play with his assistance). The family situation becomes complicated, among other because the mother announces she’s in love. The play is a mix of texts of the actors, the play they play (Panero’s play) and the play one of Panero’s character, the theatre actress, is rehearsing with her husband. A play in a play in a play. In Dutch one calls this ‘The Droste effect’, in French It is called ‘Mise en abyme’.
‘Comment vous racontez la partie’ is about a writer who decides, for a change, to accept an invitation to be interviewed about her book during a literary evening somewhere. During this evening a journalist asks her smart questions which she doesn’t like, while the librarian on the contrary is very kind to her. While she regrets the moment she accepted the invitation and would like to flee as quick as possible, the fragments she reads of her book are fascinating and the result is that even more difficult questions are posed to her. A writer reading her texts in a play is once again ‘Mise en abyme’.
Both these plays are very relevant for Yasmina Reza as a writer who writes plays. They consider the role of the writer, the players, the book or the play etc. Text and complex structure are the main issue of these plays. And they include a lot of text…
The other two plays are of completely different kind. ‘Trois versions de la vie’ is the story of one evening in the life of a couple. Their 6 years old child is in bed but he keeps asking for attention, while they just want a quiet evening after a day of work. Suddenly the bel rings: A couplet they invited for dinner arrives one day earlier than expected. The play offers you 3 alternative scenarios for what happens next. One could have expected that with each chance to start all over again, things will get better, but is that the case?
‘Le dieu du carnage’ involves once again two couples who meet. The reason is this time quite different: The son of the guests hit the son of the hosts quite severely. They come together to solve this unpleasant situation in a civilized manner. Once again something invisible interferes with the dialogues: This time it’s the phone. Each 2 of these 4 persons interact in their own way. While the conversion starts with a huge amount of French politeness, even the good intentions cannot prevent such a setting from getting out of hand. A hamster and a vase with tulips have a special rule in this play too. No wonder Isabelle Huppert played a role when this play was performed for the first time!
Both ‘Trois versions de la vie’ and ‘Le dieu du carnage’ confront us with the impossibility and hypocrisy of our daily lives. Yasmina Reza needs just very few words to show the tragic complexity of modern human relationships. The point is not the text, but the setting and the explosive dynamics which Reza present to us. These plays would have been funny if it wasn’t the case that what they show you could have happened to you. In this sense these two plays are much like "Art". By choosing a simple situation which we all know, she confronts us with the game we play and the ugliness of modern life. Brilliant! I love it!
Quite paradoxically it’s one of the actors of ‘Une pièce espagnole’ who tells us: ‘Olmo Panero a traversé les Pyrénées pour nous dire que les mots étaient des parenthèses de silence’. I certainly prefer the immensely tensed silence between the few words of both ‘Trois versions de la vie’ and ‘Le dieu du carnage’.
This book offers you 4 plays, chronologically ordered: ‘Trois versions de la vie’ (2000), ‘Une pièce espagnole’ (2004), ‘Le dieu du carnage’ (2008) and 'Comment vous racontez la partie' (2014). They are of two quite different types and the intriguing point is that the first and the third are of the same type, and the second and the forth are of another type. Will the real Yasmina Reza please stand up?
Anyhow: In ‘Une pièce espagnole’ five actors are rehearsing for a play by the Spanish writer Olmo Panero. Panero’s play is about a mother and two of her three grownup daughters. One of them is a film actress, the other one is a theatre actress married to a teacher (During the play she’s rehearsing for a new play with his assistance). The family situation becomes complicated, among other because the mother announces she’s in love. The play is a mix of texts of the actors, the play they play (Panero’s play) and the play one of Panero’s character, the theatre actress, is rehearsing with her husband. A play in a play in a play. In Dutch one calls this ‘The Droste effect’, in French It is called ‘Mise en abyme’.
‘Comment vous racontez la partie’ is about a writer who decides, for a change, to accept an invitation to be interviewed about her book during a literary evening somewhere. During this evening a journalist asks her smart questions which she doesn’t like, while the librarian on the contrary is very kind to her. While she regrets the moment she accepted the invitation and would like to flee as quick as possible, the fragments she reads of her book are fascinating and the result is that even more difficult questions are posed to her. A writer reading her texts in a play is once again ‘Mise en abyme’.
Both these plays are very relevant for Yasmina Reza as a writer who writes plays. They consider the role of the writer, the players, the book or the play etc. Text and complex structure are the main issue of these plays. And they include a lot of text…
The other two plays are of completely different kind. ‘Trois versions de la vie’ is the story of one evening in the life of a couple. Their 6 years old child is in bed but he keeps asking for attention, while they just want a quiet evening after a day of work. Suddenly the bel rings: A couplet they invited for dinner arrives one day earlier than expected. The play offers you 3 alternative scenarios for what happens next. One could have expected that with each chance to start all over again, things will get better, but is that the case?
‘Le dieu du carnage’ involves once again two couples who meet. The reason is this time quite different: The son of the guests hit the son of the hosts quite severely. They come together to solve this unpleasant situation in a civilized manner. Once again something invisible interferes with the dialogues: This time it’s the phone. Each 2 of these 4 persons interact in their own way. While the conversion starts with a huge amount of French politeness, even the good intentions cannot prevent such a setting from getting out of hand. A hamster and a vase with tulips have a special rule in this play too. No wonder Isabelle Huppert played a role when this play was performed for the first time!
Both ‘Trois versions de la vie’ and ‘Le dieu du carnage’ confront us with the impossibility and hypocrisy of our daily lives. Yasmina Reza needs just very few words to show the tragic complexity of modern human relationships. The point is not the text, but the setting and the explosive dynamics which Reza present to us. These plays would have been funny if it wasn’t the case that what they show you could have happened to you. In this sense these two plays are much like "Art". By choosing a simple situation which we all know, she confronts us with the game we play and the ugliness of modern life. Brilliant! I love it!
Quite paradoxically it’s one of the actors of ‘Une pièce espagnole’ who tells us: ‘Olmo Panero a traversé les Pyrénées pour nous dire que les mots étaient des parenthèses de silence’. I certainly prefer the immensely tensed silence between the few words of both ‘Trois versions de la vie’ and ‘Le dieu du carnage’.
December 23, 2022
All of Yasmina Reza's plays, I am forced to conclude, are about people who treat each other badly, even cruelly, in anodyne social contexts. Or, rather, about the hostility that underlies bland social relationships, which is suddenly expressed in an explicit way. In Three Versions of Life, it also happens that the same scene is repeated three times, with small variations; the most surprising of all is that, in the last one, people almost treat each other well (but not enough to prevent the play from being a work of Yasmina Reza).
November 5, 2021
3,5 / j'ai seulement lu Le dieu du carnage (pour les cours) et c'était assez sympathique!
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April 1, 2023A short but thoughtful play that asks us to consider human nature.
October 14, 2025
Étant donné que c'est un livre pour les cours, j'ai pas très bien saisi l'idée. Cependant je pense que c'est mieux de voir la pièce plutôt que de la lire !
January 15, 2026
Je déconseille une pièce espagnole.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews