Second part of the Sel de la Terre diptych, this one Irish. Only men this time, eight soldiers whose tale as part of the 36th Ulster division during the "Great War" is told. Eight men crossing the North Sea and dreaming of victory in the French battle fields. Seven are Protestants from modest backgrounds, only one of them is from a wealthy family. We know from the start of the play that an old man, is the only one of them who survived, as he remembers those years and recalls the dead. They return and bear witness. Sad sons of Ulster having Marched Towards the Somme ! This play by Frank McGuiness was first performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin (and played in English by the same troup in Paris at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in 1996). It is about the barbarity and the indelible scars that mark a people and make them yield under those questions that have no answer. Apart from the question "Who wins in a war ?" There, indeed, the answer is all too obvious. Frank Mc Guinness, born in Buncrana, Ireland, is the award-winning author of numerous plays and screenplays. He teaches English literarure at the University of Dublin.
Distribution
translation Joseph Long et Alexandre Poulain
stage direction Guy-Pierre Couleau
With : Pascal Durozier, Michel Fouquet, Laurent Huon, Michel Laliberté, Alain Meneust, Philippe Mercier, Nils Ohlund, Olivier Peigné, Antoine Régent
Assistant director : Amélie Blottière
Lighting : Laurent Schneegans
Music originale : Philippe Miller
Stage design : Noëlle Ginefri
Costumes : Pascal Souillart
Production
Coproduction : Des Lumières & des Ombres, Le Moulin du Roc–scène nationale de Niort, Théâtre de Cornouaille–scène nationale de Quimper, Le Théâtre–scène nationale de Poitiers, Le Nouveau Théâtre de Besançon–CDN de Franche Comté
Avec le soutien de : l'Adami (Coup de Cœur), de la direction régionale des Affaires culturelles et de la région Poitou-Charentes