Tried in Nuremberg, where he pleaded guilty, Nazi Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler's architect, was condemned to twenty years in prison in Spandau. That' s where we find him, striped naked by the Australian writer, Daniel Keene. Far from being a biography, the play plunges into the farthest reaches of a conscience that is empty of remorse and tries to explore the madness of a man who, until the end, will escape from the responsibility of his acts. Without ever scaling the walls of the prison, Speer continually escapes in his head. He walks in the garden, he walks, without stopping, and rallies the far corners of the globe. When he discusses with his companions, Hess, the other Nazi, or Casalis, the chaplain, he exhibits the same capacity for removing himself from emotion. Daniel Keene observes this fascinating system and restores it in elliptic dialogues, interlaced with the poems of Paul Celan, who was one of the essential witnesses of the Holocaust. The song and the tale trace a poetic story on the edge of history. Renaud Cojo makes it sound like an oratorio. The monster rests in his falsehood. For the director, there is no doubt that the beast who faces us from the stage, is lurking, silently inside each of us. It is a matter of conscience and the theatre, in this case, is the surest path to lucidity.
Distribution
translation Séverine Magois
stage direction Renaud Cojo
cast : Bruno Blairet, Maurice Deschamps, Frédéric Leidgens,
Lucien Marchal Emmanuel Burgun et Gabriel Coin (en alternance)
music : Michael Smetanin
stage design :Claude Chestier
lighting :Éric Blosse
sound :Nicolas Barillot
costumes :Pascale Robin
singing master : Patrick Marco
assistant director :Miren Lassus-Olasagasti
assistant costumes : Isabelle Denis
Production
Coproduction :Ouvre le Chien, Théâtre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine (en préfiguration), Espace Malraux Scène Nationale de Chambéry Savoie, Festival d'Avignon
Avec la participation artistique :du Jeune Théâtre national et de l'aide à la création d'oeuvres dramatiques du ministère de la Culture
Avec le soutien :de la Maîtrise de Paris, la Maison Antoine-Vitez, l'Office artistique de la région Aquitaine
Texte publié :aux éditions Théâtrales