Francophonies: "This silence between us", a place, an emotion and a trinity of women
“This silence between us”, by Mihaela Michailov, directed by Matthieu Roy, a creation presented at the Francophonies 2021 in Limoges.
© Christophe Raynaud de Lage
Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow
8 mins
"This silence between us" tells stories of women that concern us all: around motherhood, abortion or female identity.
Painful stories, long minimized, marginalized or silenced.
The play by Romanian author Mihaela Michailov and French director Matthieu Roy calls us to overcome silence and change obsolete imaginaries.
Interview after the premiere at the Union Theater in Limoges, during the Les Zébrures d'automne des Francophonies festival.
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: What story do you tell in
This silence between us
?
Mihaela Michailov
:
It's a story of different relationships between mothers and daughters, with several stories set in different time periods.
For me, it was very important to also talk about illegal abortions during communism in Romania.
See how this story could have been possible.
Talk about the effects that this kind of story has had on a lot of life, because a lot of women have been put in danger.
Reflect on the fact that this danger also exists today in countries which are not totalitarian or authoritarian like Romania during the Ceausescu regime.
What is the most essential thing that you have staged from this text
?
Matthieu Roy
:
It is the otherness of this text. That's why we chose a Romanian actress, a French actress and a musician. Why ? Because it is the language that unites us. Romanian is a Latin language, so we recognize common roots. It was important to make this original language heard, to have it carried by Katia Pascariu, and to translate it live by Ysanis Padonou into French, the language we know. Then, add another universal language, music. Thus, these three universes tell together these destinies of women and this kaleidoscope in which everyone can identify.
The title
This silence between us
contains the word "
between
", so it refers us to a spatial notion of silence.
Silence, is this a place for you
?
Mihaela Michailov
:
Yes, it can also be a place. It can also be a very strong emotion that we keep within us and that we carry within us. It is this silence between mothers and daughters. I'm talking about this, because my mom had an illegal abortion where she almost died, but she didn't talk to me about it. It is very disturbing. She finally told me about it when I was 33. For me, it's overwhelming to see how these silences grow in us. How can we break and erase these silences, but keep the stories? How can we give voice to all these invisible stories? They are known, but we do not talk about them. You mentioned silence as a place, so how can we give a place to these silences? A political place where we can assert them so that they transform something.
“This silence between us”, by Mihaela Michailov, directed by Matthieu Roy, a creation presented at the Francophonies 2021 in Limoges.
© Christophe Raynaud de Lage
The show is "
from 12 years old
", despite the fact that it tells very serious stories, like abortion.
How do you imagine your audience during your directing work
?
Matthieu Roy
:
When I work on the staging, I don't ask myself how the viewer will receive things. I'm trying to find the right place for him to hear the text. Indeed, there are certain scenes which are quite violent in what they describe, in particular the abortion. When we went to read this text in high schools and colleges, at the beginning, we said to ourselves: we must not read these scenes. A kind of self-censorship. Finally, we read them. And afterwards, we spoke with the young men and women who heard that. It is important that the theater can generate very strong scenic and intellectual images, but we must create a space for dialogue after the performance in order to be able to talk about it, decode it and decipher it. Often,the youngest spectators elsewhere have much more violent emotions with other media which do not necessarily decipher.
The play reveals a sort of trinity of women
: the mother and her two daughters in the text, the three women on stage, and through the installation of paintings on the stage.
Is it a question of replacing the imagination of Pater Noster by that of Mater Nostra
?
Mihaela Michailov
:
Yes, I wanted to replace this imagination very often focused on the figure of the man, the father, etc.
This is the start of the first scene.
It is a new trinity.
An affirmation to concentrate all these stories and to give them historical, poetic and political significance.
I also rewrote the Creed with this in mind: “I believe in one”.
And this "one" is this mother who carries us all.
Matthieu Roy:
Mihaela frames the play with the Annunciation, with Mary and Gabriel, and she ends it with a prayer: “
Our mother
”.
Indeed, behind the scenes, this question of religion and of biblical representation, in particular, was part of the play.
To question this, I invited Bruce Clarke, a South African visual artist, to join us in the artistic team.
He offered us his vision of these different women.
Bruce Clarke rose to fame with his
Standing Men
, often in monumental format.
Does your staging tell a story of “
standing women
”
?
Matthieu Roy
:
It is indeed a way of bringing out stories and feminine voices that we do not hear enough on the sets.
Very simple stories, life stories, journeys that take their source in testimonies, since Mihaela went to meet women in Romania, Creuse, Charente… It is important to tell these stories today, especially in performance halls where 70% of spectators are spectators.
And I, as a man, find it important to be asked about my place in our common destiny of men and women today, in the 21st century.
“This silence between us”, by Mihaela Michailov, directed by Matthieu Roy, a creation presented at the Francophonies 2021 in Limoges.
© Christophe Raynaud de Lage
The play is written in the form of female monologues. Are men excluded from your story
?
Mihaela Michailov
:
No, I don't believe that men are excluded.
There are also scenes of dialogues between contemporary Mary and contemporary Gabriel.
Why monologues?
Because it's a way of looking in our privacy and seeing how these monologized stories can relate to us and spark a dialogue.
Transmission is a key word of the play, but also of your theatrical work in general. For example, you have been invited to the International School of Theater in Benin (ITB). Beyond what you taught there, what did you learn in Benin for your work thanks to the students
?
Matthieu Roy
:
The discovery of a country like Benin and the ITB brought me back to the essence of theater. For example, in Benin, there is not necessarily running electricity everywhere. So the question of light in the theater quickly arose. I said to myself, maybe I'm working with tricks. Are they really necessary? The essence of theater is an actor, a text and a spectator. This experience was quite foundational in my work and brought me back to a form of essentiality of the theater that we find in the play
Le silence entre nous.
, since the actresses arrive with their suitcases and deploy their theater.
They are autonomous.
They have a few light sources and the same goes for sound.
We have a small speaker and a few microphones.
And we tell the world from it.
What is important is the gesture, the language and the presence of the actor.
► To read also:
In Francophonies, Odile Sankara advocates the reign of women and beauty
► To read also:
Les Francophonies 2021: “What place for francophone creation in France?”
► Festival Les Zébrures d'automne at the Francophonies in Limousin, France, from September 22 to October 2, 2021.
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