Polichinelle and the Compère talk about a naval battle which has just taken place. A troupe of French and Italian comedians is attacked at sea by corsairs led by a French renegade. The latter brings them to Tunis. The actors put on a show for the Gouverneur (Governor), scare the audience with Arlequin’s mask and are sent to work in the fields. The actresses reject the Gouverneur’s advances (Governor). The renegade plans their escape, so that they can go back to France.

Rod and string marionette

Not specified

France

Paris

Manuscript

Relationship between Christians and Muslims

Tunisia

Corsair

Slavery

Treason

Renegade

Harassment

Minor news

Agriculture

Censorship

Dramatic

French

Actor

Polichinelle

The Interpreter

Soldier

Pierrot

Messenger

Swiss

Leandre

Pantaloon

Arlecchino

Theatre within the theatre

Song

Masked characters

Avista

Prologue

Comical foreign accent

Dialogue with a character in the audience

Current affairs

Naval combat

La Prise d'une troupe de comédiens par un corsaire de Tunis au mois de septembre 1740

A troupe of actors captured by a corsair from Tunis in September 1740

A French journalist – François – is in a country at war to work on a report. He is welcomed by Malik – the leader of one of the camps, a collector of weapons and a fan of the Western consumer society and of the soap opera Santa Barbara. François also meets a sculptor monk, who happily guards the “cemetery of idiots”, and Marcel, a blind professor who philosophises about the fall of communism and the moral misery of humanity. François shows more and more aversion to the trade of journalism, which forces him to seek for the most gruesome news, and aversion also to humanity as a whole. The rats take an interest in this personal crisis: they are looking to communicate with him. Then the journalist meets the leader of the enemy camp, who happens to be Malik. For years, the militiamen have been fighting against themselves, playing the role of two enemy camps. The rats explain their inter-species cooperation project to François, the aim of which is to clean up the waste on Earth, and to purge humanity of its metaphysical stain. A world summit of good neighbourliness is organised in Luxembourg, to discuss the modalities of the alliance. But the rats are too visible and so the situation slowly deteriorates. The play ends with François’ burial in the “cemetery of idiots”.

Adults

Visniec Matéi

Avignon

Printed

Television

Capitalism

TV soap opera

Journalism

Cemetery

Communism

Socialism

Ecology

Waste

Globalization

Depollution

Balkans

Satirical

Grotesque

Tragic

Matéi Visniec, La Mémoire des serpillières (front cover)

Journalist

Militiaman

Sculptor monk

President

Le Ministre français des affaires étrangères

Minister

Architect

Macedonian

Russian

Clown

Talking animal

Political allegory

Modular scenes

Scene fragment

Exchangeable characters

Address to the public

Procession

Chorus

Off-stage voice

Plot twist

Throws

La Mémoire des serpillères

The Memory of mops