loving service EITHER The loving servant ? The title does not click in French. For this reason it is exhibited in Italian on the pediment of the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, in Paris, where Catherine Hiegel firmly and clairvoyantly stages the work of the Venetian author Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793). In this show where laughter does not devalue the political significance of the topic, Coraline is not a “loving servant.” Furthermore, Isabelle Carré, who plays the main role, is not so much a skilled servant as a formidable war machine whose project is set out in its first lines: “The best thing you can do with your enemies is to suffer constantly, laugh with indifference and show them that you know and that you can do without them.”, states in a programmatic preamble, which, three acts later, will conclude alone before the public: “Long live our sex. And whoever dares to speak ill of it will die. »
Between these two offensive diatribes is a fascinating comedy that, under the guise of narrating a family imbroglio in the context of a plundered inheritance, anticipates the era of great revolutions. In 1762, ten years after creating his piece, Goldoni moved to France. 1789 is approaching. Did you feel it? On the plateau, the historical anchorage is not hidden, but remains discreet. Faded colors of the facades, faded interiors of the houses, the scenery is a supposed vestige of the 18th century.my century. Space is not naturalistic but mental. The action that is occurring only exists in Coraline’s head. A woman who could have made a revolution but is content with bringing order to chaos. Everything in its time, seems to indicate the representation of Catherine Hiegel.
What is happening? The young Florindo is expelled from his home by his stepmother Béatrice (Hélène Babu), second wife of his father, Ottavio, a rich merchant from Verona. The stepmother covets the inheritance of the house for herself and her own son, Lélio. You have to love money, we say, to endure life with a senile old man played, with much murmuring (introduced or cast?), by actor Jackie Berroyer. Wrapped in her corseted dresses, her feet sliding across the floor with the skill of a snake, Hélène Babu has that dark look that would strike an opponent on the spot. We must recognize a diabolical tactical sense against which men are no rival. Even detestable, it imposes. Only one woman manages to defeat her. She is Coraline, servant, servant, servant, maiden, in short, subordinate here elevated to the rank of alter ego of the powerful.
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