Whilst she is walking on a beach, Caroline, a puppeteer, tells Filip the story of how she met him twenty years ago. The action of the play goes back to that time, when she was a student and was attending her last drawing class. The teacher gives them a horse, which suddenly bursts in the classroom. Sacha learns that her father is dying. Caroline offers to go with her and so she can say her last goodbye. They drive there with Raphaël, whose girlfriend Marie lives close to their final destination. When they arrive at Marie’s house, Raphaël learns that Marie has been cheating on him with his brother. He still decides to stay with her. Caroline and Sasha leave and arrive in the holiday cottage of one of their classmates. There, Caroline meets Filip. They share a night of love, but at dawn, he is gone. Caroline and Sasha continue their journey where they witness an accident, and they arrive in the village where Sasha’s father lives. Sasha goes to join him whilst Caroline walks along the little streets and meets the villagers. Sasha comes back and announces that her father died. She’s holding a picture of herself when she was a child, and starts talking to the picture and telling it about her passion for puppets. The next day, Sasha and Caroline attend the funeral, and then take a plane to go back home.

Shadow theatre

Direct Manipulation Bunraku-type Puppetry

Human sized puppet

Not specified

France

Charleville-Mézières

Electronic text

Remembrance

Journey

Death

Passion

Future

Unfaithfulness

Love

Grief

Road-movie

Realist

Dramatic

Fantastic

François Cervantès, Attends-moi, Charleville-Mézières, 2010.

French

Writer

Puppeteer

Student

Teacher

Neighbour

Brother

Girl friend

Father

Mother

Child

Dead woman

Teenager

Sister

Aunt

Recounting of memories

Analepsis (Flash-back)

Classroom scene

Animal cry

Simultaneous scenes

Night scene

Song

Dead talking character

Burial

Dreamt scene

Duplication

Attends-moi

Wait for me

The Neuf Coriaces (Nine Tenacious) are the last remaining survivors of a species that was once composed of billions of individuals. Their hunger led them to devour each other. They understand that they are responsible for the survival of their species, but are still looking for a way to choose who will be the next to be devoured. One of the Coriaces suggests that they stop eating members of the species, without success. They discover La Fragile Créature (The Delicate Creature) that one of the Coriaces keeps hidden in a box, and welcome her in their Confrérie de la Marmite (Fellowship of the Cooking Pot). After contemplating for a while, they devour her. After this last meal, they start the same conversation they had at the beginning of the play, as if they have forgotten everything that has just happened.