Le Jugement dernier

Right from the first performance of The Last Judgement in November 2003, it was clear that our theater wouldn't be able to satisfy all seating requests. This splendid welcome in itself could explain why we're presenting the performance again at the season's debut before it goes on tour. But The Last Judgement wasn't just a commercial success. The press was unanimous in praising the rigorous elegance of Nicky Rieti's customized staging, the excellence of perfectly tuned actors, the intelligence of a play in which critical irony and sensitivity, far from damaging each other, share the same acuteness. This is because Engel is one of the greatest connoisseurs of German theater, particularly the work of Horvath. His elliptical intensity, his attention to having a plurality of voices, his liberty in considering artistic forms, his disdain for social prejudice, his respectful and ironic handling of the banalities of daily life, his interest in the different registers and levels of consciousness and unconsciousness, and also his incredible political relevance - so many facets of Horvathian talent that Engel and his team have used perfectly. We thus present you with, for several performances only, The Last Judgement, a story of an anonymous small town burdened with conventions, where rumors and malicious gossip appear to be the only common bond, where all is frozen in an imutable and false order, where even trains regularly arrive late.
Such is the circle in which station master Houdetz's life turns. Existence entirely preoccupied by the rites of duty, the poor "life" of a human cog in the railway, humiliated and harassed by a jealous woman whom he stubbornly and properly defends to others. A man who puts on a happy face, even in a bad marriage. Nothing changes, not even unhappiness. As a consequence, nothing will change. Unless something happens, and maybe more... Since the play isn't well-known, we hesitate to reveal more about it. Let's simply say that from ordinary surprises to genuine "coup de théâtre", Horvath's realism reaches the fantastic, and that this collision of genres, blurring the audience's eyes, opens a window on a distant place where myth and madness prowl.