A man named Précair has just lost his job. Sitting on a public bench, he suddenly sees a huge branch fall from a tree. Another day, in the same place, Précair's left arm falls off, then his right. To help him, a kind man takes him to an arm merchant. But as Précair has little money, he leaves the shop with two pieces of wood instead of arms. His wife Zalou leaves him. Précair, now made entirely of wood, runs after work, which constantly eludes him. Hired as a flower pot during a social cocktail party, Précair is treated like an insignificant object, then thrown out onto the street. He loses his head (which is picked up by a dog), then his speech. Précair, now with a dog's head, behaves like one and is taken in by homeless people who are victims of a slum landlord. A dog with a human head (Précair's) arrives and sniffs Précair lying on the ground. Précair stands up, regaining his human appearance. He follows the dog up a long staircase that leads him to the middle of the sky.

Young audiences

Cagnard Jean

France

Meung-sur-Loire

Printed

Precariousness

Unemployment

Dehumanisation

Tree

Dismembering

Homeless

Slumlord

Hunger

Absurd

Fantastic

Comical

Ironic

French

Chômeur

Wife

Policeman

Landlord

Parable

Silent scene

Set that comes to life

Character ejected through the door

Fall of a set element

Comical fall of a character

Fall of a body part

Throwing rubbish at a character

Scream

Rainfall on stage

A human-faced animal

Inserting poetry

Chorality

Ascension

Character represented in animal form

L’Entonnoir

Funnel

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.