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Socialist Review Index (1993–1996) | Socialist Review 183 Contents
From Socialist Review, No. 183, February 1995.
Copyright © Socialist Review.
Copied with thanks from the Socialist Review Archive.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
The three lives of Lucie Cabrol
by Theatre de Complicité
‘Everything Complicité do is rooted in what they have heard and seen. This is a theatre of bodily functions and impulses, of class defences and universal desires.’
This is not a bad starting point from which to understand what the Theatre de Complicité is about. This small group of actors and directors devise their own plays from their experiences, world events and other artists’ work. A keen awareness of class division and a strong identification with the oppressed are central themes.
This is nowhere more true than in The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol. This fast moving and totally absorbing play centres on Lucie, born to French peasant farmers at the turn of the 20th century. Her face is disfigured at birth and she grows up an outcast among the suspicion ridden peasantry. As a result, Lucie has little prospect of marriage and has to struggle alone for survival.
The play is constructed from a short story by John Berger, the Marxist painter and writer. His materialist approach is echoed in the development of the plot and characters in this production. The harsh realities of peasant life and the hard people it produces are brilliantly realised by the company, with Lucie’s and her family’s personalities arising from the near starvation conditions of their farm.
There is a constant battle between Lucie and her younger brother Henri. He is jealous of Lucie’s superior intelligence and more importantly because she is a rival for their father’s land, which is to be divided between the children on his death. Their hatred is rooted in the threat to each individual’s survival if they are given a poor piece of land, or none at all.
Lucie and Henri have to work together but are suspicious of each other’s actions and motives. More generally, the rest of Lucie’s brothers find it difficult to accept Lucie working alongside them in the field. After all, she is a woman who really should be in the kitchen as far as they are concerned. At the same time they are glad of the lighter workloads.
There is no fairytale ending for Lucie. She lives a hard life, ends up alone and meets a brutal death. Yet John Berger and Complicité characterise the play as one of hope. This hope comes out of the fight for survival of all the characters, but especially the downtrodden Lucie, have to take part in. The play is never morbid or even sad, and we are never invited to pity Lucie, but to admire her strength and resilience. Out of this struggle comes hope for the future. As long as people keep fighting, Berger seems to be saying, anything can happen.
This is a difficult play to get to grips with. But the struggle is most definitely worth it. The invention, passion and enthusiasm of the company are like nothing else around at present. Maybe that’s got something to do with the democratic control the actors and producer have over what they perform and how they perform it.
The play shows at: Brighton Gardner Arts Centre, 1–5 February; Stratford Swan Theatre, 8–12 February, Darlington Civic Theatre, 17–19 February; London Riverside Studios, 23 February–9 April
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