Exploring the Dreams and Challenges of Young Actors in a Changing World

They come from different countries and worlds. But they all have the dream of becoming an actor. In a world where culture is being battered by health and economic crises, within a society that questions gender, climate, diversity… Meeting with these young talents to understand what led them to the artistic path.

The Mazeau park in Saint-Priest-Thaurion (Haute-Vienne) is home to one of the twelve higher drama schools in France. It is the only school located in a rural area. For three years, she trained young actors. Young people who have ideas, desires and uncertainties…

Part of the 2022-2025 class of the Ecole Supérieure du Théâtre de l’Union • © Antoine Jégat – France Télévisions

“Marcel, he looked great for France 3!” At first mocking, Ayat suddenly becomes serious, looking serious, to get into the shoes of Hermione, Racine’s character, imploring Orestes to kill the lover who turned away from her. A large role played by this young woman of 22 years old from Sarcelles in Val-d’Oise. Tragedy, not really her favorite register, she who is seen by others as “the clown” of the promotion. “I’m interested in being where I’m not expected, into be something other than the label that people want to put on me.”

Ayat Ben Yacoub playing Hermione, the character from Andromaque, Racine’s tragedy. • © Antoine Jégat – France Télévisions

Having passed through the Angers conservatory, this Franco-Tunisian assures us: she is there to “explode” codes, shaking up representations in the world of theater… But for that, drama school is a necessary step. “It’s all well and good to say that the theater is too white, too bourgeois, too elitist… but I have a responsibility by being here. Behind me, there are all the people from Sarcelles who are not so lucky.”

Sidi Camara says he still feels “disorientated”. Born in Mali, he arrived in France at the age of 15 with the aim of becoming… a professional footballer. “I joined the ESTAC training center in Troyes. I stayed there for two years.” He continued with studies in construction. But all this time, a secret passion drives him: cinema. “In Mali, we watched a lot of Indian and Bollywood films. That’s how I discovered cinema. When I arrived in France, I discovered American cinema, with actors like Denzel (Washington), Will Smith…”: a revelation.

Sidi Camara (foreground) first wanted to pursue a career as a footballer before turning to comedy. • © Antoine Jégat – France Télévisions

With his Master’s degree in civil engineering in hand, he decided to join a theater company in Paris. “I knew I had to train in comedy, but I had neither the means nor the desire to go to private schools. So, I joined the conservatory in the 16th arrondissement in Paris for a year before trying the competitive exams for higher education schools. That’s how I arrived in Limoges.” A course that contrasts with that of his playmates. “I’m getting my bearings little by little. There are codes that I don’t have so, sometimes, I’m a little lost… but when you’re on stage, there aren’t 15,000 languages…”

The speaker: finding your “singularity”

“You are becoming the goddess of vengeance!” From his desk, Vanasay Khamphommala plays the same phrase over and over again to help Ayat find the right intention. For three weeks, she got to know them to better guide them. “We will have to work with some of them in two years. So, it is also an opportunity for us to discover young performers, to see what their aspirations are.”

Vanasay Khamphommala accompanied the students for three weeks by asking them to play “4.48 Psychose”, a play by Sarah Kane retranslated by herself. • © Antoine Jégat – France Télévisions

“I’m trying to be the counselor I didn’t have when I was at school.” continues Vanasay Khamphommala. This transgender artist took a long time to find her place in the world of institutional theater. “Aurélie Van den Daele (Editor’s note: director of the Union theater since 2021) wanted to invite artists including myself, who come from diversity, to offer other theatrical aesthetics.”

With the students, she addresses questions around gender through texts dealing with love, chosen by the students. “I think that our desires are the places where we express our greatest singularity. Some arrived with fairly classic scenes on which they offer an offbeat look. Others arrived with very contemporary scenes which, precisely, from the writing, allowed other representations of love.”

Anna Mazzia and Baptiste Thomas chose to play a scene by British author Alice Birch. The picture is as follows: at the end of a meal with friends, the woman clears the table, the man devours her with his eyes while admitting that he wants to make love to her. Through the power of language, the relationship of domination is then completely reversed. “It’s the first time I’ve taken power on set and not crashed” Anna rejoices. “I find myself more in contemporary plays, written by women. Before, plays were written by men for men, we must not forget that. So they didn’t say anything about us.”

Anna Mazzia and Baptiste Thomas performing a scene from “Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again”, a play by Alice Birch. • © Antoine Jégat – France Télévisions

In 2021, the “MeToo Theater” movement revealed the extent of sexism in the performing arts sector. “All environments are rotten. In cinema, but also theater where the relationship with the body is particular. It has been revealed, but the fight continues,” concludes the youngest member of the class.

However, Anna’s main source of concern lies elsewhere: “My first fear is not having a job. My parents are university students. I have a brother who is a lawyer, the other is a professor. I am in a family where there is stability, which the theater does not necessarily offer, except at the Comédie-Française… and then again. And that, yes, scares me.”

The actress Léa Miguel posing in front of the Ecole Supérieure du Théâtre de l’Union. • © Antoine Jégat – France Télévisions

Léa Miguel is always very moved when she returns to the places where she spent the three years “the most intense” of his life. Having left school ten years ago, the actress from Limogeau revealed by the series “Un village français” has no shortage of work in the theater. “So far, I’m getting by, but the culture here is getting more and more complicated.”

Closure of the Passerelle, reduction in filming in Limousin… the prospects are not good. However, she never considered leaving her native region to go to the capital, where opportunities are necessarily more numerous. “Paris has never tempted me, and I find it important to try to make things happen locally. But cinema-wise, it’s a struggle here. For everyone,” she admits.

However, she says to herself “optimistic” by observing the variety of profiles of this new generation.

Next year, around 300 actors will leave drama schools at the same time to enter a job market in permanent tension.

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