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Le Marin d'eau douce
Joël Jouanneau
Le Marin d'eau douce
Photo:Phil Journé
Actes du théâtre n° 23.[ imprimer ]
« A child from Pré-en-pail with no first name is terribly bored. One fine day he decides to make himself scarce. Thirsty for adventure, he decides to row up the river, saying: ‘Take me to the sea! As fast as can be!’. He encounters many obstacles along the way and is soon swept away by the waves, like the heroes in stories by Jack London, Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson. Despite all obstacles our barefoot Ulysses finally makes it back to Pré-en-pail through sheer force of will, but everything has changed for him. He is no longer a child and has been given a strange first name, Ellj, after much hard work and agony. » Joël Jouanneau

« Whether ‘for children’ or for ‘adults’, all ten of his plays so far revolve around the central theme of childhood and origins. He is a compulsive reader and writer who needs to make frequent visits to the tormented and unpredictable world of children. This year he has given us a ‘pirate comedy’ written at his retreat on an island off Brittany  far from the madding crowd. »
Excerpt from the TNT press kit

Opened 5 March 2007 at the CDDB de Lorient. Théâtre de l’Est Parisien, 24-28 April. On tour from March May 2007.
Directed by the playwright. Set design: Jacques Gabel. Costumes: Stéphanie Coudert. Sound design: Pablo Bergel. Lighting: Franck Thévenon. Cast: Camille Garcia, Delphine Lamand, Nicolas Chupin, Bryan Polach, Fabrice Bénard.

Characters : 2 women - 3 men -
Editions Actes Sud-Papiers, coll. Heyoka Jeunesse - www.actes-sud.fr

Pré-en-pail. A donkey. Two dogs, Ferocious and Voracious. A Child.
The three friends of the bored Child invite him to play. But the child doesn’t understand and wants to go away.

DONKEY What is it Your Highness?
CHILD I’m bored. It’s always twelve noon at the same time here. And every tomorrow morning is like the one before. I’m bored  and more than a little.
DONKEY Is this the first time?
CHILD The first time I’ve said so, but not the first time I’ve been bored.
VORACIOUS Would you like a grasshopper, Sire  to cut off its legs?
FEROCIOUS Or an old toad you could fill with smoke until it bursts.
CHILD I’ve done that a hundred times already.
FEROCIOUS Then will you play prisoner ball with us, Your Majesty?
VORACIOUS The three of us will be the ones in prison.
CHILD I already played prisoner ball yesterday, the day before yesterday, last month, and even before I was ever born.
DONKEY Do you want to play a new game?
CHILD Go ahead  tell me what it is.
DONKEY You watch time passing. We’ve never done that before, Child, and I like doing it. I like doing it better than being a servant, all things considered.
CHILD Really?
DONKEY Yes. Time ravels and unravels like a ball of yarn, and you can watch it unravelling if you take your time and don’t cheat.
CHILD What are the rules?
DONKEY You cross you arms, listen and watch. Want to try?
CHILD Yes let’s try.
So the four friends cross their arms.
And the almost swing creaks.
And the old clock goes tick-tock.
DONKEY Can you hear time?
CHILD Yes. But I can’t see anything passing.
DONKEY It’s about to.
CHILD Nothing yet.
Then a fly passes through Pré-en-pail.
DONKEY Did you see it passing by?
CHILD What?
DONKEY The fly.
CHILD Yes.
DONKEY It’s the beginning.
CHILD The beginning of what?
DONKEY Of the parade.
CHILD And then?
DONKEY Wait and see, it’s only just begun.
A green leaf floats by.
FEROCIOUS Oh what a beautiful leaf!
VORACIOUS It looks like a chestnut leaf.
FEROCIOUS It smells like pine.
VORACIOUS It’s chestnut.
The weary leaf rests on the ground.
(…)
CHILD Do you think I’m going to wait here with my arms crossed like a dead person?! No way. My heart is pounding. I don’t want to watch time passing. I want to live through it. I’m sick of old Pré-en-pail. I’m sick of its school and its steeple. I’m sick of its more than almost less than a hundred inhabitants too. And I’m sick of that chiming clock and its tick-tock keeping watch. Tick-tock, tick-tock, that’s all it ever says. I’m sick of that tick-tock.