Ahmed’s comeback

Born under Alain Badiou's pen to denounce the tragedies of racism, this modern farce character makes his return here. Wearing his original mask, created by Erhard Stiefel, and inhabiting the body and voice of Didier Galas, he is reunited with those who gave him his humanity for the first time, over a generation ago... As a worthy heir to Scapin, this flamboyant modern servant rejects the models of understanding of this world, our world, which he finds stupefyingly changed by our constant exposure to media. He isn't quite the same himself. He has to learn to reconstruct himself in space, to juggle with modern ideas and with the understanding men and women have of their own time. Nothing can escape the wild flow of his words, full of traps for intelligence, and he seems to be able to find the fun in everything, as comfortable with the idea of transcendence as with his cousin Fatima. Echoing the idea of a play made for an itinerant theatre that addresses its audience directly and with little means, his director says of him: “Ahmed is subversive, he says things as if they were true and laughs at the consequences they have on thought.”

After studying philosophy, Alain Badiou taught at the secondary school and university levels. A political activist with a passion for theatre, he worked with Antoine Vitez before writing a series of plays, including Ahmed the subtle (1984) and Ahmed philosopher (1995). Badiou also writes novels and essays, and his engagement has led him to take an active part in the field. An avowed disciple of Plato, he published in 2012 Plato's Republic, the product of several years' worth of quasi-daily re-reading and rewriting.

Direction Didier Galas
Text Alain Badiou
Artistic Collaboration Jean-François Guillon (stage design), Emily Wilson (play)
Music Joël Grare
Sound Thibaut Champagne
Lights Perrine Cado
Costumes Catherine Sardi
Mask Erhard Stiefel

Production Les Hauts Parleurs
Coproduction Festival d'Avignon, Théâtre du Fil de l'Eau (Pantin), Le Théâtre de Rungis,
With the support of Ministère de la Culture Drac Île-de-France et pour la 72e édition du Festival d'Avignon : Adami
With the help of Théâtre de la Commune (Aubervilliers), La Grange Dîmière Théâtre de Fresnes