Journalist Antoine Leiris' poignant account of events, written after the death of his wife Hélène in the Bataclan attack, "Vous n'aurez pas ma haine", adapted for the stage.Wednesday 14 November 2018, at 8.30 pm, Théâtre Princesse Grace
13 November 2015. Antoine Leiris, journalist for France Info and France Bleu, is at home alone with his 17 month old son, Melvil. A message on his voicemail. "Hi, are you safe?"
He turns on the TV, and his life is instantly turned upside down. His wife, Hélène, 35, was at the concert the Bataclan. She is among the 90 who lost their lives.
Three days after the attacks, having just identified his wife's body, he posted a an open letter on Facebook with the words: "On Friday night, you stole the life of an exceptional person, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you will not have my hate".
He later wrote a heartrending account of the events, published by Fayard in 2016, and the play to be performed at the Théâtre Princesse Grace.
On stage, actor Raphaël Personnaz speaks the sober, stark words of Antoine Leiris. Benjamin Guillard, who directed Maylis de Kerangal's thriling novel "Réparer les vivants" ("Repairing the Living") with Emmanuel Noblet, says he wanted at all costs to avoid the spectacular, preferring instead to "put a voice and a place to this precious personal account, with subtlety, tenderness and generosity".
Raphaël Personnaz is accompanied by two pianists (Lucrèce Sassella and Donia Berriri), alternately performing original music by Antoine Sahler.