Reading in 3 voices (1 writer + 2 actors)

Sat 27 June at 8pm / Duration: 45 min / Free of charge

A runaway child, a bored doctor and a gardener/beekeeper: Célia Houdart intertwines destinies in order to invent soft endings and a common dream.

Young Bilal runs away from an airport. He is dizzy. He stays with a Paris doctor, who wonders what to do with him. Eighteen months later, we find the child happy in a cherry tree.

Background

Célia Houdart was born in 1970 in Boulogne Billancourt. Following studies in literature and philosophy, and directing assistantships, she has focused since 1997 on her own work (theatre, performances, radio, musicals, and installations). She was awarded a grant by Villa Médicis hors-les-murs/AFAA (1999) and Fondation Beaumarchais-art lyrique (2004) for Fréquences, an opera libretto. She had two novels published by P.O.L: Les merveilles du monde (2007) and Le Patron (2009).

Extract

When the plane’s engines start revving, Bilal has disappeared. He has fled. He has escaped the attention of the air hostess, busy pulling the strings on her safety vest for the compulsory demonstration, of his parents, sister and brother, and of the rest of the crew. (…) Bilal is already running down the corridors, down the escalators, through the entrance hall of the airport. An announcement is made over the PA system. All the speakers in the terminals give out his name and description. He doesn’t notice the glances of passers-by. He isn’t scared at all.