Created at the Théâtre de Nîmes before going on a national tour and as far as Reunion, this show of barely an hour features three young actresses evolving against a black background.
One of the actresses, Jessica Ramassamy, herself from this French territory in the Indian Ocean, also wrote the text, inspired by a true story, but not that of her family.
She first plays Marie-Anne, a three-year-old girl entrusted by her parents from Reunion to a representative of the French State, who makes them sign papers that they do not understand against the promise to make her a doctor. or a lawyer, over there in the distant metropolis.
The actress then plays the same little girl, whom her adoptive family in Creuse has renamed "Elodie" and from whom her true identity is hidden.
At 16, it will be the fortuitous revelation: "I was born in Reunion. I don't even know where it is on the map".
Then begins the search for five brothers and sisters, uprooted at the same time as her and from whom she was separated, then from her parents, in Reunion.
The twists and turns of his career, from a reality TV show to the counters of an insensitive administration, are tragicomic.
Sabine Moulia and Virginie Sibalo, the two other actresses, play a social worker, a teacher, school friends or even a "new mother", none of whom really takes the measure of the feeling of abandonment and betrayal of the young woman.
"Moral responsibility" of the state
A total of 2,015 young Reunionese were moved to France between 1962 and 1984 to solve the problems of galloping demography and great poverty that Reunion was experiencing, according to a 2018 expert report which estimated that 1,800 of them were still alive.
They were called the "Children of Creuse", because they were welcomed in this rural area faced with the exodus of populations, but in total they were sent to 83 departments.
The author of the text and actress Jessica Ramassamy, in the center, in "Tous nos ciels" at the Théâtre de Nîmes, November 22, 2022 Pascal GUYOT AFP
Some have never set foot on their island again, nor seen their families again.
A third were "transplanted" before the age of five, often to be adopted.
Half were between the ages of six and 15 and were placed in foster families or in institutions.
Those over the age of 15 (one in five) were sent for apprenticeship or training.
Some came across families who saw them as free labour, others suffered violence and sexual assault.
Even if the National Assembly recognized in 2014 the "moral responsibility" of the State, associations of former displaced people are still calling for greater legal, administrative and psychological support to help them reclaim their history.
In Reunion in April
The show, the second put on by the Montpellier collective V.1., is inspired by the life of Valérie Andanson, now spokesperson for the Federation of Uprooted Children from Overseas (FEDD).
Small excerpts from an interview conducted at the start of the writing work are broadcast between the scenes, bringing a documentary dimension to the play, which also includes "moments of fiction", explains Jessica Ramassamy.
"It needed a little distance, humor, to show all the subtleties of life, the moments a little tragic as well as the most tender", specifies the director, Elian Planès.
The director Elian Planes, in Nîmes on November 24, 2022 Pascal GUYOT AFP
Dedicated to "children who have finally succeeded in making Creuse their adopted country", the show was presented to sold-out crowds in Nîmes at the end of November.
It will be played in Toulouse from January 19 to 21, then in March in the Pyrénées-Orientales (in Alénya and Err), before a tour of more than a month in Reunion from April.
© 2022 AFP