Avignon Off 2022. Meeting with Yves-Pol Deniélou who, after a show on Hugo, embodies Robespierre in the play ‘Danton, the deniers jours du lion’ by Étienne Ménard
Home > Culture > Theater > Avignon Off 2022. Meeting with Yves-Pol Deniélou who after a show on (…)
First of all the war in Ukraine described thus: Thirty cities at this moment are a prey to pillage and extermination, kyiv, one of them, a hundred thousand inhabitants. An immense crime is being committed, or to put it better, an action is taking place, because these exterminating populations are no longer even aware of the crime. They are no longer at that height. They have the appalling innocence of tigers. Russian soldiers, become men again. While there is still time, listen: if you continue this savage war; yes, you officers; if, you, soldiers, violently torn from your mothers, your fiancées, your families, mistreated, malnourished, condemned for an indefinite time to military service, harder in Russia than prison elsewhere; if, you who are victims, you take sides against the victims; if, in this decisive conflict, you disregard your duty, your unique duty, fraternity; if, instead of turning around and facing the butcher of nations, you crush cowardly, under the superiority of arms and numbers, these desperate heroic populations, claiming the first of the rights, the right to the fatherland; if you do this, know it, men of the Russian army, you will arouse the execration of the civilized world! The crimes of force are and remain crimes; public horror is an excuse. And let the Russian government take heed… It has everything to fear from the first comer, from a passerby, from any voice whatsoever. In the presence of this government raised by crime, the citizen worthy of the name has only one thing to do, load his gun and wait for the hour. Perhaps you think that these striking words are those of a journalist, writer or political scientist of today… You would be wrong… They are signed… Victor Hugo and date from 1852, 1853 and 1882. Astonishing spirit visionary than his, he who fights for the greatness of a Europe of peace, and against the sound of arms. Fascinated since childhood by Victor Hugo, the actor Yves-Pol Deniélou offered the texts of the great man a show entitled ” Hugo the interview directed by Charlotte Herbeau. It was he who found those passages of Hugo which ring so true today, and which showed that the suffering of the Ukrainians in the face of the Russians does not date from this winter.
He embodied Hugo more than he played him
- Yves-Pol Deniélou in the skin of Victor Hugo (Photo XDR)
We remember his show. He enters the scene and it’s a shock. In a deep voice he seizes the work, we make it familiar and this spectacle seen in the Off d’Avignon was a shock. Health crisis requires, everything stopped and if the project was resumed at the Lucernaire exit Avignon. So we are happy to see again, in the Off, the actor who in 2019 created at Studio Raspail his only on stage ” Cyrano de Bergerac » (full version of three hours) where he embodied all the characters in the original text, directed by Charlotte Herbeau.
- Etienne Ménard & Yves-Pol Deniélou in “Danton the last days of the lion” (Photo XDR)
This year 2022 here he is in the room “ Danton the last days of the lion by his friend Étienne Ménard. There is Robespierre, for a moment of intense theater which follows a succession of successes including his role as Louis XIV in ” the lever of the sun in 2013, then his participation with The Big Cat Company at the Festivals Off d’Avignon 2014 and 2015 with the piece ” The Tenacity Liner “. In 2015, he starred in ” what’s left », a play he wrote with Catherine Bocognano, he also played George Duhamel in « the fables of my garden and Lawrence of Arabia in a play inspired by the 7 Pillars of Wisdom. In 2016, he participated in the creation of the piece ” One day I was alone by Marjolaine Humbert. Tireless, Yves-Pol Deniélou who met us more “giantdantonesque” than ever. Maintenance.
What is your background
I started the theater at twelve years old, an English teacher in college passionate about theater, Jean-Pierre Guille, we translated a new play by Shakespeare every year. I made my first Avignon with Hamlet and Othello in 1994, my childhood and my adolescence were punctuated by plays by Shakespeare, Hamlet and Othello in 5th grade, Macbeth in 4th grade, King Lear in 3rd grade, Richard III in 2nd grade, Romeo and Juliette in 1st, the Merchant of Venice in terminal, then again the Night of the Kings, the Dream of a Midsummer Night and the Tempest, and in parallel I was studying mathematics, in Lyon then at the ENS de Cachan. I then did a thesis in bioinformatics and it was only with my doctorate in my pocket that I took the plunge. I went to Paris to do the Jean-Laurent Cochet course and become an actor. It is with friends of the course that I play in ” The tenacity liner » in 2014 and 2015 at the OFF festival in Avignon, then in 2016, I created my solo on stage « Hugo the interview “, which I will then perform again in 2017 and 2019. In 2019, I create in Paris my Cyrano de Bergerac, still directed by Charlotte Herbeau. Alone on stage, I play the entire text, more than fifty characters, for three hours.
What are your two companies
- Yves-Pol Deniélou in CYRANO (Photo XDR)
I straddle my two companies. The first “Thank you la Prod Compagnie” which with Charlotte Herbeau gave “ Hugo the interview », « Cyrano de Bergerac », and soon « Calamity Jane “whose show is being written with Charlotte Herbeau precisely. The second is “The Big Cat Company” where with friends from theater classes, namely Étienne Ménard, Pierre Boucard, Barbara Castin, Samuel Giuranna, Jean-Baptiste Germain, Maxime Windisch, I embarked on the adventure of ” Danton, the last days of the lion », « Beauty saves the world », « nights of anger », « The tenacity liner “. I enjoy working with those I am close to.
Tell us about “Danton…” this year’s production, and your role as Robespierre.
This year we are returning to Avignon off with a good part of the ” tenacity liner ” to play ” Danton, the last days of the lion a play written by a friend – Étienne Ménard – who was passionate about this period, and who imagined what these men – Danton, Desmoulins, Robespierre – who knew each other very well, could say to each other in private, between great speeches from the rostrum.
He succeeds, by giving back their place to the women, Louise Danton and Lucille Desmoulins, to make us relive the revolution from the inside, from the boundless enthusiasm of the beginning to the terrible violence of the end. In this play with six characters I am Robespierre. To play this divisive character, I cut off my “Hugolian” beard and I try to do him justice in terms of his passion for the Revolution. What Étienne Ménard’s text clearly shows is the friendly, even fraternal relationship between Robespierre and Camille Desmoulins, which then became strained. For Robespierre, who opposes the clemency desired by Desmoulins, clemency must come later. Once we have solved the problems of a France being besieged and according to him in mortal danger. Robespierre is perhaps the character who gives rise to the most controversy as to all the actors of the French Revolution. I like to embody this complex being in this production of high quality, high quality and very popular in the noble sense of the term. With in sight this audience that we want to be numerous and to whom we give the best of ourselves every evening.
Proposed by Jean-Rémi BARLAND
“Danton, the Last Days of a Lion” by Etienne Ménard. Essaïon Avignon – 33, rue de la Carreterie – until July 30 at 8 p.m. Release on Monday. Reservations on 04 90 25 63 48. or on Avignon