Rousseau, Jean-Jacques’s judge. Dialogues


Studio
Cast: Laurent Prévot, Jean-Francis Maurel
 
Adaptation and artistic director: Jean-Francis Maurel
Date of the opening: October 26, 2012
Studio performance in French, with Romanian subtitles
A performance from the L'Arbre-Théâtre, France with the assistance of the French Institute of Romania
 
This highly important text bears witness to a hard period in the life of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Believing that he is the victim of a universal conspiracy which aims to defile his memory and to distort his writings, Rousseau puts down on paper an imaginary trial in which he defends himself before posterity, before “every Frenchman who continues to love justice”.
 
The complex work is a perfect example of eloquence and rhetoric. The director strives to give an immediate demonstration of the emotions and sufferings of a human being in the anguish of self-reproach. He presents him as someone who is longing to love and to be loved, who hungers for freedom and calm and who, in the end, finds peace.
 
The performance was presented in Geneva in April of this year on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s birth. Later, it was also presented in Neuchâtel and in Lausanne, as well as in France, Italy and Belgium.