Young Chorten and his guide walk through the Himalayas, forced into exile to escape the invaders who have occupied their country. Chorten does not want to leave his country, but the guide explains that it is necessary to continue living. On the way, they encounter a Yak, who will lead them to the neighbouring country. They also meet two other children, young Tsangpo and his sister Song, who are also on the run. The journey is hard and tiring, and the little Tsangpo cannot resist the cold of the mountains. Shortly afterwards, the Yak also abandons them. Chorten and Song are exhausted, but the guide convinces them to continue their journey. And finally they arrive: the signal is a light cloud of butterflies surrounding the children.

Young audiences

Cagnard Jean

France

Alès

Printed

Exile

Child

Childhood

Cold

Journey

Children--Death

Death

Mountain

Butterfly

Poetry

Himalaya

Domination

Freedom

Border

Hallucination

Soldier

Humour

Flight

Pathetic

Fantasy

French

Storyteller

Allegory

Alternating narrative / dialogue

Talking animal

Apparition

Brawl

Disguise

Active stage directions

Animated natural element

Speechless character

Repetition of a word

Scene of madness

Scene fragment

Silence

Warning signs

Des papillons sous les pas

A theatre director has hired Polichinelle for the evening, but Polichinelle is late for the show. When he comes on, he is haunted by the ghost of his conscience, that chastises him for his very instinctive personality. Following the director’s questions concerning what is tormenting him, Polichinelle uses glove-puppets to play episodes from his childhood, when he was often punished for his misdemeanour. Once the flashback is over, Polichinelle wants to improvise some jokes, but the director forbids him from tackling political themes. As he does not know what kind of show to put on, Polichinelle keeps talking about his past – how his parents had him then abandoned him for lack of money, and his first heartbreaks. Polichinelle and the director argue. The latter summons Illness and Death, who want to take Polichinelle with them. While screaming that he is an immortal character, Polichinelle manages to drive them out – thus saving theatre and also making up with the director.

Not specified

Nordmann Jean-Gabriel

Meung-sur-Loire

Remembrance

Illness

Unrequited love

Love

Parents

Argument

Grotesque

Comical

Fable théâtrale pour comédiens et marionnettes

Polichinelle

Director

Father

Mother

Nurse

Schoolteacher

Devil

Address to the public

Song

Blow-with-a-stick

Allusion to current political events

Seduction scene

Analepsis (Flash-back)

Fight

Sous le masque tu es mortel pauvre orphelin !

Behind the mask you are mortal poor orphan!

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”.