A Minimalist Play with a Powerful Message
A minimalist play in terms of set design: a suspended table in the shape of a raft is set up in the middle of a barely lit stage. In this setting, four characters participate in a supper, likely their last, reminiscent of Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper".
A Well-Received Play
According to La Presse, "La Cloche" by Assem Bettouhami, which premiered at the 4th Art festival to a packed audience, received a long ovation from the public at the end of the performance. Produced by the Tunisian National Theater (TNT), this new introspective creation explores the inner worlds of each of the four characters. An existential journey resonating to the sound of a bell that sets the pace for the play.
A Simple yet Powerful Set Design
"La Cloche" features a minimalist set design: a suspended table in the shape of a raft is set up in the middle of a barely lit stage. In this setting, four characters participate in a supper, likely their last, reminiscent of Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper". The host, two guests, and a mute servant, equipped with a bell, witness the unfolding of events that take a dramatic turn when a fire breaks out outside, preventing the guests from leaving.
A Text that Avoids Cerebral and Abstract Pitfalls
Mohamed Chawki Khouja and Assem Bettouhami have written a powerful and poetic text that avoids the pitfalls of a play that is too cerebral or abstract. The text, recited by a narrator in literary Arabic, punctuates the actors' dialogue in dialect. The work evokes the passing of time, which consumes and erodes the individual, and the unspeakable nature of their traumatic past. The spoken and unspoken, intimate and historical, individual and collective, convey the void and the passing of time.
Exceptional Performances
The play is served by exceptional actors, particularly Sonia Zarg Ayouna, the sole female role, Marwen Errouine, Abdelkarim Bennani, and Ridha Jaballah, who inhabit their characters with passion and accuracy. They bring to life the tensions and aspirations of the four characters, who are trapped in a frenzy as destructive as it is formidable. Wounded and frustrated, they face a terrible adversary: themselves. These empty, inwardly hollow beings watch time pass without their lives changing.
A Desperate and Human Play
This desperate and human play explores, to the point of asphyxiation, the tense relationships between trapped characters. The voices and gestures intertwine in an ascending tension. The play examines the intimate spaces of each character around a table where the meal turns into a settling of scores.
Masterful Direction and Chorography
The direction is masterful, and the choreography, an integral part of the play, adds a supplement to the soul of the piece, creating a polyphony of gestures, enhanced by Marwen Errouine's performance, who expresses through body movements what his fellow actor formulates through words.
Haunting Music
The music by Héni Ben Hamadi creates a mystical atmosphere, particularly the a cappella chant by Abdelkarim Bennani. The latter, with his back to the audience, sings a stunning Sufi chant that accompanies the plunge into the intimate abyss that leads these characters to their downfall. Through their discomfort and the grip of time on them, they are consumed by their own contradictions. "La Cloche", a work that is both philosophical and poetic, invites reflection and gives meaning to life and the passing of time.
