Paris (AFP)
French actor and director Didier Bezace, co-founder of the Théâtre de l'Aquarium and ex-director of the theater La Commune d'Aubervilliers, has died of a long illness, his press officer announced on Wednesday .
"Didier Bezace died at his Parisian home on Wednesday, March 11, 2020, at the age of 74, following a long illness which he fought with vigor and courage," said a statement sent to the AFP.
The national directors' union praised "his commitment and the integrity of his shows" which "will remain as markers of part of the history of theatrical decentralization in our country.
In the cinema, he starred in around thirty films including "L.627", "It starts today" by Bertrand Tavernier and "La petite voleuse" by Claude Miller, as well as in several dozen TV movies.
Co-founder in 1970 with Jean-Louis Benoît and Jacques Nichet of the Théâtre de l'Aquarium at La Cartoucherie de Vincennes which explores new forms, he became director of the Théâtre de la Commune d'Aubervilliers from 1997 to 2013.
As a director, he edited texts by classic and contemporary authors like Luigi Pirandello, Molière or Bertolt Brecht and in 2001, presented his version of "L'Ecole des femmes" by Molière at the Court of Honor at the Festival d ' Avignon, with Pierre Arditi.
A committed artist, in 2013 he had signed the book "From a wedding party to another - a director in the suburbs".
The mayor of Aubervilliers, Meriem Derkaoui, paid tribute in a tweet to the one who "had managed to combine political theater and poetic theater".
In 2004, he created "Opinion for the interested parties of Daniel Keene" who received the Critics' Prize for scenography and a nomination for the supporting role in Molières. In May 2005, he received the Molière for best adaptation and that of directing for the creation of "La Version de Browning" by Terence Rattigan.
In 2014, he created the company "L’ entêtment amoureuse", including three pieces by Marguerite Duras and three pieces by Feydeau. In 2018, he created in Paris "There will be the youth to love", a reading show composed of texts by Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet around their literary and loving lives which he interprets alongside Ariane Ascaride.
© 2020 AFP