Décors : indéterminés. Un lieu unique réunissant les personnages
Nombre de personnages :
5 au total
3 homme(s)
2 femme(s)
Création :
Période : mars 2001
Lieu : Städtisches Theater Chemnitz
Domaine : protégé
Édition
Cette traduction n'est pas éditée
mais vous pouvez
la commander à la MAV
Résumé
In the form of a narrative in several voices interspersed with exchanges acted out by the performers, the play describes the reactions of the close friends and family (her partner, her father, her friend) of a young woman, A., who has apparently committed suicide by fire. But the corpse which is found is not A.'s, as we learn from a monologue spoken by the presumed missing person in the final scene.
Regard du traducteur
This play in thirteen scenes displays undeniable dramatic virtuosity. It starts with a funeral service and ends with the coup de théâtre announced by the title: A. is someone other than the missing person.
Another feature is the deliberately everyday, almost trivial tone of the dialogue (short sentences, more or less trendy' clichés) which correspond to the environment being described, socially fairly neutral and without intellectual pretensions: liberated middle-class young people in a provincial town (that we may suppose to be Swiss).
The absence of social difference contributes to the whodunnit aspect of this depiction of a deceptive bereavement, with no real object, as the end reveals. It also gives the writers greater scope to incorporate anecdotes - acted out or narrated - alongside the very serious central tragedy: a great love (between A. and her partner Gerd) undergoing the trials of a fake death and a genuine separation.
Everything hinges on finding the right balance between the atmosphere of ordinariness and maintaining the suspense. The skilful dramatic construction and the fluidity of the writing provide, it seems to me, the right means.