Consent exposed in the theater

Tears flow down her cheeks. His eyes shine. With a ponytail on her bare shoulders, in jogging pants and sneakers, Ludivine Sagnier walks across the stage at a rapid pace. A chair, a table and a bed covered in black sheets provide the framework for the story of Vanessa Springora, editor and author of Consentement (Grasset), relayed by

The actress handles it masterfully. Returns to the events which took place more than thirty years ago. She plays “V”, who had the misfortune to fall in love at 14 with “G.M.”, Gabriel Matzneff, writer, during a dinner where she accompanied her mother. He was 50. “We loved each other,” she repeats, abused in every sense of the word. So I can't tell anyone about it. But why ? Why, since I love him. »

“For so many years, my dreams have been filled with murder and revenge. Until the day when the solution finally presents itself, there, before my eyes, as obvious: catch the hunter in his own trap, lock him in a book,” writes Vanessa Springora, who has chronologically reconstructed what happened. pass. Accounts for his innocence and his blindness in the face of a sexual predator hailed at the time by literary critics. Denounces the actions of a pedophile who moved freely in an indifferent society. In the 1980s, no one protested or sought to defend the minor.

The shocking book, presented as an “artistic work”, is getting a new life in the theater. The process of enslavement dissected in public makes it even more universal. In this show, created at Châteauvallon-Liberté, in Toulon, and performed at the Espace Cardin, in Paris, Ludivine Sagnier borrows the author's words and appropriates them. As if still surprised by the influence that “G” had over the teenager. In the shoes of a so-called “consenting victim”, the actress, noted in particular in Swimming-pool, by François Ozon, strips herself naked. Dignified and sunny in the lights of Rémi Nicolas, facing the spectators frozen to the core, indignant. Or vulnerable, behind a canopy through shadow play.

Pierre Belleville makes the beating of his heart heard with his drums. Dan Levy - César for best original music for I lost my body (2019) - signs the haunting music. It was Sébastien Davis, director, who introduced Le Consentement to Ludivine Sagnier. Long-time friends, they founded the actors/actresses section of the Kourtrajmé School, in Montfermeil (93). The Rond-Point program warns: “ The show refers to a pedophile relationship and may offend the sensibilities of those involved. » It is true that we do not emerge unscathed.

Le Consentement, at the Théâtre du Rond-Point (Paris 8th), until April 6.

Gap. : 01 44 95 98 21, theatredurondpoint.fr.

Vanessa Springora will give a master class on March 23 at 3 p.m. (free entry).