With Nicolas Bouchaud, Laurent Poitrenaux and Dominique Reymond

Man and wife, Pierre and Claire Lannes, answer in turns the questions asked by the inspector. From the beginning, Claire Lannes acknowledges having killed their cook and housekeeper and then having cut up her body into pieces before scattering the parts in different areas. Pierre Lannes, who lives under the same roof, saw nothing. Marguerite Duras drew inspiration from a real story to write L’Amante anglaise, but what truly interested her behind the criminal case was the unfathomable, metaphysical mystery of these strange people. Why did Claire Lannes kill the maid? Dominique Reymond embodies this woman who exists “on the other side of the world”, beyond any moral judgement. Nicolas Bouchaud and Laurent Poitrenaux complete this elusive trio for whom the questions seem to create disturbing discrepancies and open up silences rather than providing for answers. With this play written in a deceitfully simple language, Émilie Charriot delves into a type of theatre centred on words where the actors are laid bare with the text and before the public in an intense, paradoxical interpretation somewhere between lucidity and darkness.

Cast

dramaturgy Olivia Barron
set design, lighting Yves Godin
costumes Caroline Spieth


production Compagnie Émilie Charriot

coproduction Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe, Théâtre Saint-Gervais - Genève, Bonlieu scène nationale Annecy

with the support of Loterie Romande, Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, cultural affairs of the Canton of Vaud, Swiss Society of Performing Artists SIS

the Émilie Charriot company is supported by the City of Lausanne under a subsidy agreement

L'Amante anglaise by Marguerite Duras, Gallimard, Folio théâtre, 2017

creation in November 2024

Biography of Émilie Charriot

Born in 1984, Émilie Charriot acted and taught theatre at conservatories from 2002 to 2009, before joining the Manufacture school in Lausanne. She made her name in 2014 with an adaptation of King Kong Théorie by Virginie Despentes, which was part of the first Swiss Selection in Avignon. She then brought to the stage texts by Chekhov, Antoine Jaccoud, Annie Ernaux, Peter Handke and Claudine Galea, as well as a show written for the stage, Vocation. Favouring the spoken word, her theatre, with a great economy of means, places the actor's direction at the centre. Her film credits include Robin Harsch's first feature film and Espèce menacée, a series directed by Bruno Deville.