The play is set in 2077, in a military dictatorship. Everything happens in the cellar of a common citizen – Joan. One day when she comes back from work, she finds Dummy in it. He broke into her apartment by breaking a window, as he was trying to hide from the army. He does not own papers and has been shoplifting to survive. At first, Joan believes that he wants to rob her and asks him to hand her his knife. But Dummy is homeless and undocumented: his knife is his only means of defence. What is more, he is emotionally attached to it. Joan then agrees to feed and hide Dummy. He relates his past and confides that he was forced by soldiers to kill one of his parents. Joan and Dummy call on a smuggler, Jack, who promises to forge papers for Dummy, which would allow him to cross the border. However, the money Dummy was keeping in a box has disappeared. At this point, Jack declares that he has links with the army and threatens to report them. Despite the help Joan offers him (she goes as far as trying to request a loan), Dummy turns down her offer to run away with her: he says he wants to leave with Jack and to continue to steal for a living. Joan’s life has radically changed since meeting Dummy, for whom she says she has sacrificed everything. She does not understand his decision and launches into a xenophobic monologue, during which she inflicts extreme violence on Dummy. She stabs him several times, steps on him and tears him up. At the end of the play, the actor dubbing Dummy’s voice walks among the “debris” of the puppets and speaks in a fictional language.

Young audiences

Bond Edward

Great Britain

London

Northampton

Printed

Dystopia

Migrant

Murder

Escape

Money

Foreigner

Dramatic

Tragic

Fantastic

Edward Bond, The Chair Plays, 2012.

English

Host

Murderer

Puppet

Emigrant

Thief

Soldier

Puppeteer

Smuggler

Crook

Recounting of memories

Sleeping character

Imaginary language

Argument

Fight between an actor and a puppet

Murder on stage

Stabbing

Destruction of a puppet

The Under Room

Sous-chambre

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 had forgotten everything that just happened.

Object theatre

Not specified

France

Lyon

Arcueil

Hunger

Survival

Cannibalism

Future

Darwinism

Deliberation

Philosophical tale

Black comedy

Satirical

Patrick Dubost, Les Neuf Coriaces, Collectif en 7, 2010.

French

People

Allegory

Chorality

Echoing lines

Character eating another character

Song

Scream

Les Neuf Coriaces

The Nine Tenacious

A TV presenter invites the audience to time travel to the year 2084; he ages rapidly and dies. A foetus floats in space and hums the music from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Numbers 3 and 5 harass number 11 who wants to be left alone, driving him to suicide several times. The voice from the speaker congratulates 3 and 5. Two robots talk using only letters and acronyms. Mozart, afraid of being forgotten, doubts his own identity. The creatures Têtedelard and Boutdechou reflect on their potential, and then the former dismembers the latter while Lumgo, a deceitful creature with disorganised syntax, tries to convince Boutdechou to become the king of humanity. Clones have to play family but no longer understand the concepts of man, woman or love. An alien mother listens absent-mindedly to her son tell stories of life on Earth in the past. Behind them, the planet Earth rises.