On tour since November 2018, we recommend you to see She Wanted to Die and Go to Paris, a musical theater play about Greece.
A young Greek woman in Lyon and then in Paris
She wanted to die and go to Paris is a less dark story than the title may suggest. This creation tells the story of a 15-year-old girl, who loves boys. As she has occasionally had a frolic with a boy at the movies, her parents decide that she must go and atone for her sins in a Catholic convent on the tiny island of Tinos. In this Thessaloniki of the late 60s, it is frowned upon to follow the sexual revolution instilled by the United States and Europe. Fate will play in her favor, when French people, lost, find help from the parents of this young girl. Their own daughter having to study at a Catholic school in Lyon ("But what stupidity did she do?" will ask the Greek mother), they propose to the parents to welcome this young Hellene who will return only for the summer holidays.
Here she is in a city and a country she does not know. Resigned, she will do everything to forget her roots and pass for a French. Once a mother, she won't want to teach her son Greek. A story based on the life of the mother of the author, director and composer Joaquim Latarjet. An original and very personal creation, moving and captivating.
Ήθελε να πεθάνει και να πάει στο Παρίσι / She wanted to die and go to Paris
From the Great Catastrophe to the Baglama
The small story takes on more meaning when it is attached to the big story and especially to the "Great Catastrophe". In 1923, the Lausanne Agreement was signed and provided for the movement of Greeks from Asia Minor to Greece and Turks from Greece to Turkey. Decisions were taken with regard to the religion of peoples. The Greeks of Constantinople had the right to stay, but persecution forced them to flee. In 1930, the city was now called Istanbul, a fact that is still not accepted or digested by many Greeks who continue to call it "Constantinopolis".
In this context, our young Greek already comes from a family of exiles from Asia Minor and will uproot herself again by leaving and wanting to forget where she comes from.
The music, very present in the room, reminds us of the sounds of the strings of a little Bouzouki: the Baglama. Inspired by Rebetiko, it takes us to the guts and plunges us into the nostalgia and fullness of Greek music. Revisited by Joachim Latarjet, it is inscribed in the present and tells us what he does not know how to express in words. We feel his attachment to this stolen culture, his vibrations for a country that warms the body and the heart. You can breathe Greece, the authentic. Daphne Koutsafti gives us a foolproof truth. The writing reveals funny situations with finesse, humor and lightness. The staging is surprising and works very well. Sobriety appreciated at all levels.
She wanted to live and die in Paris has a universal resonance for all those who left home at least once, regardless of the starting point or arrival.
Practical information
She wanted to die and going to Paris will be played:
January 23 and 24, 2018 at 8:30 pm at the Théâtre de Sartrouville (CDN)
From 23 to 25 March 2018 at the Théâtre Les Subsistances in Lyon
May 3 and 4, 2018 at 8:30 pm at Théâtre L'Onde in Vélizy
From 14 to 17 May 2018 at 8pm at the Plateaux Sauvages in Paris
Based on texts by Joachim Latarjet and Alban Lefranc
Music and direction: Joachim Latarjet
Starring: Alexandra Fleischer, Daphné Koutsafti, Joachim Latarjet, Emmanuel Matte, Alexandre Théry
Video: Alexandre Gavras and Mathilde Bertrandy
Lighting: Léandre Garcia Lamolla
Sound: François Vatin
Costumes: Nathalie Saulnier
