"Ramses II" by Sébastien Thiéry

"Ramsès II", Sébastien Thiéry's crazy pyramid

Joy and laughter with a wheelchair-bound François Berléand, the too rarely seen Évelyne Buyle and Éric Elmosnino as the wicked son-in-law.

Well, here is a play that brings joy! That said, we can't reveal anything - the plot is so integral to it all that giving even a few hints risks spoiling the enjoyment. As is always the case with such a great author as Sébastien Thiéry, everything is constructed like a highly contemporary work of art, producing laughter and fear... causing the audience to lose their minds.

What can we say, then? This isn't a historical play about Ramses II, it's simply that one of the protagonists, the ingenious François Berléand is confined to a wheelchair and is fascinated by the pharaoh. He and his wife, Évelyne Buyle, whose every appearance on stage makes us long for more, are waiting to have lunch with their daughter and son-in-law. The son-in-law, Éric Elmosnino, arrives... It's not giving too much away if we tell you that he's as wicked as they come, this fake half-wit who comes out with some terrible things.

The absurd and reality in 3D

And so our heroes, who will break down the walls, are in place. For Thiéry's preferred field is the absurd, reality in 3D: madness, tragedy, disintegration, from which is derived incredible enjoyment. As in "Who's Mr Schmitt?", one of Thiéry's early plays, where Mr and Mrs Bélier receive a phone call despite the fact that they have no telephone, or in "Finding Mom", where a guy finds his parents (Muriel Robin and Berléand) but they don't remember ever having had a child, "Ramses II" navigates troubled waters - very troubled waters. Treacherous waters directed by the fantastic Stéphane Hillel.

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