Theatre play, childrens literature, identity, rebellion, dual audience, Mike Kenny, Marc Lainé, Séverine Magois, education, youth theatre
Theatre play for children and adults, exploring identity and rebellion through Isabella's journey.
[...] It seeks to convey values, such as the condemnation of animal violence (zoo scene) - But the play also incites rebellion: Isabella must be 'clean', 'beautiful', and 'nice' = her parents literally want to make her a doll. The play takes place in a gigantic four-poster bed that serves as a prison for the little girl. Obsessive anaphora of 'yes Papa' = excessive docility. Excessive obsession with cleanliness from the parents (particularly with the leitmotif of clean hands) condemned by the play. III/ A text that builds itself with its readers An enigma to be reconstructed - The play is a dream (title) open to interpretation. [...]
[...] On the contrary, Isabella hates the doll. - The index personarum specifies that there are only three characters: Num Num and the doll are played by the same actors as the parents. We see this scenic imperative in this scene: Maman is absent because she plays the doll / Papa must leave the scene before Isabelle finds Num Num. Blurring of characters and thus of identificatory supports A model reader bifrons - Umberto Eco: model reader = reader that the text presupposes (it takes a certain capital of knowledge/references to understand the text) and shapes (the text itself contains references that the reader actualizes). [...]
[...] Question 'What is = double meaning. It can refer to the sign (doll) but also to the signified (what does it symbolize?) - World deserted by adultsPapa goes away). Privileged interlocutors of Isabella = doll and Num Num, that is to say other versions of herself. - « At the end of the play, the spectator makes a return journey that allows him to explain and interpret these scenes that had given themselves as enigmas until then." (Marc Lainé). He therefore addresses the" reading (cf. [...]
[...] Or, La nuit a fierce dream literally aims to bring the reader into a child's dream. Presentation: Title: La night a fierce dream Author: Mike Kenny Translator: Séverine Magois Director: Marc Lainé Unedited text Genre: theatre Context: Marc Lainé and Mike Kenny have already worked together on a children's show and received an award (Molière in 2008 for Electric Night). Justification: usual authors who write for children. Show, therefore text made for interaction with the public Selected Extract: A text addressed to a double readership - Nathalie Prince, dual addressee. [...]
[...] The reader reaches the end of this chain and modifies the meaning of the text according to the evolution of his interpretive hypotheses (cf. Wolfgang Iser and the involved reader / Hans-Robert Jauss and the elaboration of the work as a constant dialogue with its reception). - The doll, initially a gift/proof of paternal love, becomes a threat/anxiety of dispossession of oneself. Similarly, the search for Num Num evolves from looking for a lost stuffed animal to a deeper ontological inquiry. [...]
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