a tragic farce
The French playwright, writer, director and screenwriter Florian Zeller, at almost forty-five years old, is one of the most performed theatre authors and, according to The Guardian, is even “the most interesting playwright of our time”. His plays have been translated into many languages and performed all over the world. He made his debut as a film director in 2020 with the film The Father which brought his play, which our theatre is now also preparing to present, to the big screen. The film starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman won numerous awards including Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor in a Leading Role. The play was first performed on stage in Paris in 2012 and won the Molière Award, the most prestigious French theatre trophy.
The story of pensioner André is told in such a way that the viewer can empathise with the physical and psychological state of a person who is gradually losing control over himself, and his memory in particular, due to illness. The touching and realistic story presents a picture of one family that has to deal with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in the main character without unnecessary sentiment, and sometimes even with dark humour. André gradually loses track not only of his loved ones, but also of himself, and becomes unable to distinguish what is the present and what is the past...
This tragicomic play about a topic that may sooner or later concern each of us promises to be a deeply emotional experience.
