"Que ma joie demeure" by Clara Hédouin, extracts

After the series The Three Musketeers, performed throughout France outside of theatrical venues, Clara Hédouin returns with a new open-air epic with Jean Giono’s Joy of Man’s Desiring. On a plateau in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, a mysterious “leprosy,” or rather a sadness, takes over the daily lives of men and women working the land. But one night, on the edge of the forest, appears “Bobi.” This stranger will encourage them to look differently at themselves, at the land they cultivate, and at the forest that surrounds them. Thanks to him, birds will return to the skies, and wild ungulates to the forest that borders the fields. “Maybe you’ve farmed the earth from one end to the other just a little too much?” Bobi says to the people of the plateau. Maybe... and their whole world changes. Depression slowly gives way to joy, which soon overwhelms all, with a sensuality and desire that consume the characters... until death.