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

France

Meung-sur-Loire

Printed

Childhood

Remembrance

Death

Illness

Unrequited love

Love

Parents

Argument

Grotesque

Comical

French

Fable théâtrale pour comédiens et marionnettes

Polichinelle

Director

Father

Mother

Nurse

Schoolteacher

Devil

Scene fragment

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”.

Adults

Visniec Matéi

Paris

Avignon

Television

Capitalism

TV soap opera

Journalism

Cemetery

Communism

Socialism

Ecology

Waste

Globalization

Depollution

Censorship

Balkans

Satirical

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

Soldier

Talking animal

Political allegory

Modular scenes

Exchangeable characters

Masked characters

Procession

Chorus

Off-stage voice

Plot twist

Throws

La Mémoire des serpillères

The Memory of mops