Stück Plastik, Une Pièce En Plastique
English Title
A Piece of Plastic
Director
Maia Sandoz
Playwright
Marius von Mayenburg
Year
2016
Form
Play Reading
Duration
1h40mins (full production, not sure about the play reading)
About the production
Playwright
Marius von Mayenburg
Translation
Translation
Mathilde Sobottke
Reading directed by
Reading directed by
Maia Sandoz
With
With
Serge Biavan,
Maxime Coggio
Adèle Haenel
Paul Moulin
Maia Sandoz
Music
Christophe Danvin
Theatre de L’Argument
Synopsis
To relieve their daily lives, a couple of humanists on the left, who are caring and close to burnout, decided to hire Jessica to help them‑to do the housework, do the dishes, cook and take care of their son who is in the midst of a teenage crisis.
But how are they going to continue to be "good people" now that they are bosses?
But how are they going to continue to be "good people" now that they are bosses?
Then, it is the conceptual artist Serge Haulupa who wants Jessica for one of his performances. What should she do? What she does everyday: clean up other people's shit, but this time in public. A flirt with Humiliation? Yes, but it's in the name of art, and art is life, right?
About the play
Michael and Ulrike are close to burnout. They are pressurized by their work, by their son’s early entry into puberty and by Ulrike’s boss, the famous conceptual artist Serge Haulupa who constantly interferes in their domestic idyll. A housekeeper would assist them. They therefore hire the young Jessica who will quickly become an indispensable member of the family. She tidies up, does the dishes, cooks and takes care of the little one. But who is she really? Did someone just ask her? Michael and Ulrike face a terrible dilemma, how to behave appropriately when you find yourself in the role of the boss? Especially when you have always proclaimed yourself a defender of workers' rights. What to give her at Christmas? Money? Of course, but how much? Under what amount can this gift become an insult? And suddenly Ulrike's boss wants Jessica for one of his installations. What should she do? What she does every day: clean up other people's shit, but this time in public. A flirt with humiliation? Yes, but it's in the name of art, isn't it?
With this new satire, Marius von Mayenburg, crucifies Judeo-Christian guilt and explodes the veneer of the values of the well-thinking intellectual left with monstrous embarrassment. It is creaky, exhilarating and it hurts very very much.
'Michaël is a doctor and Judith assistant to Haulupa, a famous conceptual artist.
They are a couple of leftist humanists, caring and close to burnout. To relieve their daily lives, they decide to hire Jessica to do the housework, dishes, cooking and take care of Vincent, their teenager, who is also in crisis. But how are they going to be able to continue to be "good people" now that they are bosses?
They are a couple of leftist humanists, caring and close to burnout. To relieve their daily lives, they decide to hire Jessica to do the housework, dishes, cooking and take care of Vincent, their teenager, who is also in crisis. But how are they going to be able to continue to be "good people" now that they are bosses?
With this satire, Marius von Mayenburg reveals the chasm between our convictions and our actions with monstrous embarrassment. With an unrestrained rhythm of the language, liveliness of the sequences, surprising ellipses, variations of addresses, setting in abyss, perfectly balanced course of the characters, black humour, cynicism, bad taste, irony, poetry and mystery, Stück Plastik imposes without immodesty a dive in the dark corners of our petty bourgeois souls.
It's brilliant, enjoyable and it hurts a lot!'
It's brilliant, enjoyable and it hurts a lot!'
Adèle’s role
Not known at this stage.
Notes
Adèle performed in the play reading of Stück Plastik in 2016 at Theatre Du Ronde Point with the Théâtre de l’Argument troupe in 2016. I have not been able to find much about this event, apart from what is above.
Théâtre de l’Argument staged a full production of the play in 2018, but Adèle was not in this production. This may be because she was busy filming three feature films that year(!), Le Daim, Portrait de la Jeune Fille en Feu, and Les Heros ne Meurent Jamais.
Review of the full production
(This is a review of the full production, as the play reading was not reviewed, as is normal)
As with all of the plays staged by Théâtre de l’Argument, reviews praise the director and the actors. This is troupe that works well together and makes great theatre. One day I will get to see a performance (once this damned virus lets us travel...)
“Portrait in vitriol of the face-to-face meeting between those above and those below, the charge is explosive and joyful. Maïa Sandoz, who embodies herself, with Olympian calm, the tyrannized housekeeper, has mounted the room in a colorful farce with the false airs of a trendy plastic installation. Intelligent, funny and abrasive.”
Fabienne Pascaud, Telerama
The actors are absolutely exceptional and plunge us into the conflicts, neuroses and bad faith of their character. Everything is wonderful in the borrowed speech, nothing in reality. And the finale in an navel of this borrowed speech is absolutely hilarious.
To the genius of the staging Maia Sandoz adds that of an actress by signing an interpretation of the housekeeper unbearably guilty. It takes the place of the real, the real and offers the text the most brilliant homage.
David Rofé-Sarfati ,Tout La Culture
Photos from the production by Theatre de l'Argument
(These are from the full production of the play, not the play reading that Adèle performed in)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please share your thoughts about or response to the film.