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 "La Pierre," photo: Elizabeth Carecchio
As director of the play's French première ("La Pierre", at the Théâtre naional de la Colline), Bernard Sobel revisits his formative years with Bertolt Brecht's Berliner Ensemble in East Berlin, a city which has mostly erased reminders of the Communist era. But as Mayenburg shows in "Der Stein", no amount of bulldozing and construction can bury the past, especially when younger generations are sufficiently emboldened and distant enough from the events to seek the truth. The action moves seamlessly thanks to Lucio Fanti's illuminated chronological markers, while the cast is led by Édith Scob who lends great life and energy to the grandmother Witha, and Anne Alvaro who creates an enigmatically suffering Mieze, the Jewish woman who owned the house but was forced to flee the SS. As the past and present meet, the revelations flow and the mythologies that had nourished these women instead come to weigh around their necks like a stone.
To Feb. 17, Wed-Sat, 8:30 pm, Tues, 7:30 pm, Sun, 3:30 pm, Théâtre national de la Colline, 15 rue Malte-Brun, M° Gambetta, 13 euros-27 euros, tel: 01.44.62.52.52.
More theater at: http://www.paris-theater.blogspot.com
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