• From April 23, Amir, plays, alone on stage, the play

    Selected

    at the Edouard-VII Theater (Paris 9th).

  • In a first-person monologue, he retraces the fate of Alfred Nakache, the glory of French swimming, deported to Auschwitz because he was Jewish, with his wife and daughter who never returned.

  • "I think so few people know about his life, it's because he didn't try to become someone. He lived forty years after the war, without necessarily looking for glory and honors , when he could have been a living legend. It seems fitting that a character like him should be adored late, post-mortem. I am lucky to be among those who will bring this forgotten fate to light", says Amir

    20 minutes

    away

    .

He has accumulated twenty-one titles in the French championships, broken national, European and world records, participated in two editions of the Olympic Games… A glory of swimming.

And yet, Alfred Nakache is unknown to the greatest number.

Born in 1915 in Constantine (Algeria), youngest of eleven children of a Jewish family, he died in August 1983, succumbing to illness during his daily swimming kilometer in the bay of Cerbère (Pyrénées-Orientales).

Four decades earlier he was deported to Auschwitz (Poland), with his wife and their daughter who never returned.

It is this extraordinary destiny that Amir traces in

Selected

, from April 26 at the Edouard-VII Theater (Paris 9th), directed by Steve Suissa.

A first-person monologue by Marc Elya, in which the singer proves to be a convincing actor.

The first time you heard of Alfred Nakache was while filming the clip for your song “J’aicheré” in 2016…

There is a moment in the clip where we see Melvin, the dancer, pass in front of the Alfred-Nakache swimming pool sign.

I knew Géraldine Nakache, Olivier Nakache, the Nakache brothers from music, but I didn't understand the relationship with sport... So it was this somewhat strange journey that led me to find out about this Alfred and the reasons for which a swimming pool bears his name.

I never expected to read a story like hers.

I was amazed, flabbergasted, upset because he lived.

Why isn't a man who had such a life famous and celebrated.

Why do so many of us not know his story?

Do you have the answer to this question?

He became a local hero in Toulouse.

It is in this city, where he lived, where he was part of the mythical club of Dauphins du Toec, that he received the greatest number of titles.

It hasn't completely fallen into oblivion from that point of view, but it's a rather localized glory.

I think so few people know about his life, it's because he didn't try to become someone.

He lived forty years after the war, without necessarily seeking glory and honours, when he could have been a living legend.

He always led a modest life.

He didn't want to disturb anyone.

He joined the Swimming Hall of Fame, the highest honor for a swimmer, in 2019, more than thirty-five years after his death.

At the start of the play, we imagine him surprised at this tribute.

Very few swimmers access it.

Ultimately,

it seems consistent that a character like him should be adored late, post-mortem.

I am lucky to be one of those who will shed light on this forgotten destiny.

Two years after you discovered the Alfred-Nakache swimming pool, Steve Suissa called you…

I was surprised: why was he contacting me since he is a director?

When I took him online, he told me: “I'm setting up a project that is close to my heart.

Do you know Alfred Nakache?

Would you like to embody it?

Imagine my shock.

For me, it was a sign...

Do you know why he thought of you?

He knew my musical career, he saw me swim and knew that I did triathlon, and he found me common physical traits with Alfred Nakache.

For me, these were not very solid arguments… I learned to understand over time that Steve has animal and relevant intuitions.

He knew that the project would go to the end.

He was so confident that it reassured me from the start and made me want to embark with him when I knew I was taking a big risk.

Acting, is it taking a risk or a childhood dream?

I have always dreamed of acting.

With the song, it was part of my life project.

As a kid, during the end-of-year celebrations, in front of my family, I was never identified more as a “singer” than as an “actor”.

I was also a bit of a clown, a bit of a dancer… The stage was what fascinated me.

The years made music take the lead, but I felt the dream picture would only be complete when I could express myself in another art form and comedy took priority.

I received role offers, especially for romantic comedies, but I always turned them down.

I wanted to wait for the right moment, the proposal that would allow me to express myself, to challenge myself.

No one had had the courage that Steve Suissa had to offer me a project in which I would literally become someone else.

Only one on stage on which he put his name, his ambitions, years of work… And that when I had never played professionally on the boards.

You have to be crazy to do that!

“Selected” makes it possible to address several themes, from colonization to resilience, but also that of anti-Semitism.

Alfred Nakache, his wife and their daughter were deported after being denounced by a Frenchman.

Talking about this anti-Semitism, which continues in France, was an additional motivation?

This is one of the many human messages, values ​​that this piece transmits.

This story is intended to give us food for thought, to make us understand certain things, to awaken us to the troubles from which the world suffered in 1939-1945 and from which it has not recovered until today.

Unfortunately, anti-Semitism is one of them.

The theme of this play, in general, is how not to reproduce the mistakes and the horrors of history.

It highlights the deep injustices, beyond Nazism and the camps.

It tells of a man who gave everything for his country and who is betrayed by his own country.

As a sportsman, he carried the tricolor flag, defended the colors of his homeland, sang

the Marseillaise

.

From one day to the next, he found himself spat out, vomited by his country towards death camps.

The contrast between who Alfred Nakache was, what he believed in, and the way he was treated hurts a lot.

This piece has the main advantage of awakening us.

It is important for the younger generation, who may not be aware of what happened not so long ago.

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