The True Sweetheart

She is so beautiful, that we must ask ourselves why.
Olivier Py

According to Olivier Py, the fairy tales of the Grimm brothers have been considered for too long as « the ideal depiction of little girls searching for a prince charming. » Most of these tales though are far from being childish. Their marvelous aspect is that much more striking in that it is played out on a background of utmost gravity. The cruelty of the world is never very far away form these places full of poor orphans or families suffering from famine, where innocence is often scorned and childhood exploited, persecuted and even tortured... for example, a little orphan whose father introduces to her, a year after her mother's death, the wicked lady he is going to marry.
No excess of hard work or torment is going to chase her away. But when her cruel step-mother tries to make her believe she has provoked her father's death, how can she possibly not run away ? She must take the road of exile. But she will survive thanks to love and friendship, because, as the hero of another tale says, « there is a god in heaven and who recognizes those with pure hearts », meaning one who will always make sure the pure-of-heart are recognized for who they are, and can recognize each other. The Prince and Princess will always meet in the end, laugh and sing together, despite their evil rivals and the tricksters and cheaters they encounter, the magic potions that make them forget...each of them shall find his or her true place in the world, the one they truly deserve, next to their true love. In order for this to happen, they can count on the loyalty of a Gardner, the man who knows that flowers lead to fruit, but that flowers also have their own language and beauty. We can also dream of angels passing (with Py, there is always an angel, looking to be noticed). The Angel and the Gardner, nature and grace, these are the two things that the heroes of fairly tales can hope to encounter according to Py. And with this creation of the True Sweetheart, we also know that one must add a third kind of encounter : the Actor, thanks to whom truth can triumph, as he or she jumps into the conflict and risks him/herself.
And so all is well that ends well. Because Py knows one should never forget that before an audience of children, « it is unthinkable to imagine communicating anything to them but words of hope. » On the way to hope though, we will have perceived a few examples of just how cruel the world can be. We will have met a young girl who is being exploited, then saved. We will have confronted fear, including those that love arouses. In a nutshell, we will have been nourished with the naive wisdom and the light-hearted seriousness of fairytales, which know how to make kids of all ages listen to them and take the power of their words seriously, while respecting children's desire to learn and grow. After the triumphant creation and performances of The True Sweetheart last year, the play's commitment to and resounding success amongst a young audience, the Odeon Theater is bringing it back so that young and old alike, can discover, or rediscover, for whom the rose flowers...