“The Nest of Ashes”: A Theatrical Masterpiece by Simon Falguières at La Fabrica d’Avignon 2022 – Review

Difficult to come down to earth after such a theatrical journey. “The Nest of Ashes”, the fresco by young Simon Falguières, created at La Fabrica d’Avignon in 2022, has kept all its promises. As much in its writing as in its staging, acting and cutting, this epic gesture in the form of a universal tale has proven to be a model of grace and balance. The thirteen-hour show (intermissions included) passed like a dream.

The argument of the piece taken up in two versions (Integral or concentrated in 3 h 30) can only captivate and move. In a time close to ours, the planet is falling apart, like an apple cut in two: on the one hand the real world in fire and blood, on the other, the world of tales annihilated by the illness of its queen. The angelic Gabriel, an orphan taken in by a troupe of actors wandering in a devastated continent, and the courageous Princess Anne, daughter of the queen of the land of fairy tales, will have to find each other, to put the two halves back together and restore harmony.

Each of the seven episodes (or “songs”) reveals its share of surprises, with its twists (the princess and her female crew crossing the seas; the betrayal of Brock, Gabriel’s “false brother”) and its grotesque figures (the devil the ousted president, disguised as a clairvoyant…). The princess, passing through limbo, will even have a surreal dialogue with Homer, Shakespeare and Sophocles, drunk as barrels.

One could fear a discrepancy between the text, marvelous, and the scenic adaptation. It is not so. The staging of the author, enhanced with music and songs, flows naturally. The beautiful stripped down and shimmering decor by Emmanuel Clolus passes without warning from the trestles style to the high-tech atmosphere (a waltz of neon lights is enough for him to design a city). Comedy, drama… Simon Falguières (who interprets the intriguing small role of the “accountant”) fires all wood.

Patchwork cousu d’or

Filled with skilful references, his “work of a lifetime” is a patchwork stitched in gold whose threads are invisible, a hymn to the love of the theatre. And as his project comes from afar, as it was built collectively with young actors involved, the interpretation is natural and flawless. From John Arnold, the eldest (troop leader, king of tales), to the young Pia Lagrange (the princess), the 17 actors are all remarkable.

The alchemy is such that from the first minutes of the show, the public is already thrilled. There are practically no defections during the six intermissions, and at the stroke of midnight, it is a triumph. Simon Falguières and his heroic acrobats have given us back the half of the apple that we sorely lacked: our share of dreams. A huge gift.