Il ne m’est jamais rien arrivé, presented at the Théâtre Princesse Grace in Monaco, draws directly from the Journal de Jean-Luc Lagarce, published by Éditions Les Solitaires Intempestifs. Performed without intermission in a one-hour solo format, the production takes place on Tuesday, January 20, at 8 p.m.
Vincent Dedienne adapts and interprets the private notebooks of Jean-Luc Lagarce, one of the most important playwrights of the twentieth century. Across the years, the Journal sketches an intimate portrait: a young man who is at once funny and unsettling, living between Paris and Besançon in the 1980s. It is the life of a man consumed by theater, witnessing the arrival of AIDS and the deaths of figures such as Coluche and Simone Signoret - an existence both modest and momentous.
Directed, staged, and scenographed by Johanny Bert, the performance is deliberately restrained. Dedienne is accompanied onstage by Irène Vignaud, who also draws live during the performance. The artistic team includes lighting by Robin Laporte, silhouette creation by Amélie Madeline, costumes by Alma Bousquet, with Dedienne dressed by Agnès B.
Produced by Théâtre de l’Atelier in coproduction with Théâtre de Romette, the piece transforms personal writing into shared theatrical presence. As Dedienne has noted, the project was sparked by his work on Juste la fin du monde, giving voice here to everything Lagarce’s characters - and perhaps Lagarce himself - left unsaid.
Photo credits: Christophe Raynaud De Lage