In 2017, I returned to the Lucernaire and saw two more shows there. The first was an adaptation of the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, adapted and directed by Manon Montel. I was curious to see how she would condense an 1800-page novel into a 90-minute play.

Les Misérables at the Lucernaire

The solution was to “re-center” the story on one of the minor characters, Madame Thénardier, and let her narrate from her point of view. She also plays the accordion between scenes.

Madame Thénardier is the innkeeper’s wife and the mother of Éponine and Gavroche, among other children. In the novel she is quite an unsavory character (like her husband), but she is more sympathetic as the narrator and accordion player in this stage version.

Since I had recently read the novel (all 1800 pages, in French!) I had no trouble understanding what was going on.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

The other show I saw at the Lucernaire in 2017 was a contemporary play called Le Déni d’Anna (The Denial of Anna), written and directed by Isabelle Jeanbrau. I bought the text at the Lucernaire bookshop and read the first act before show time, so I had no trouble following what was being said.

Le Déni d’Anna

Anna doesn’t actually appear in the play, because she has just died when the play begins, but she is “interpreted by the music,” performed by a guitarist and a drummer who are on stage.

Anna was the mother, wife, niece and granddaughter of the characters who actually appear, and the story has to do with their unwillingness or inability to mourn her death. The adults, especially the husband, try to carry on as if nothing has happened, so they are frantically living a lie.

Twenty years later the children, now grown up, come and ask for the urn with their mother’s ashes, so they can finally give her a proper burial. Their father, who has misplaced the urn, is against having a funeral, saying it would be too expensive, but the children insist that they can afford it (on a les moyens) and that some things are more important than money. When the urn is finally found and the funeral is over, the father finally starts sobbing uncontrollably and says to his daughter “I’m unhappy, Diane, I’m so unhappy.” And she answers “Me too, Papa.” So the family finally starts to mourn Anna’s death, after twenty years.

Address of the Lucernaire: 53 Rue Notre-Dame des Champs, 75006 Paris.
Métro: Notre-Dame des Champs (line 12) or Vavin (line 4).
Vélib’ bicycle station 6006: 41 Rue Notre-Dame des Champs.

 My photos in this post are from 2014 and 2017. I revised the text in 2022.

See more posts on the Lucernaire in Paris.