Sarah Giraudon.

He played in the theater Waltz of the penguins, Lark and dove. On Canal+ she was Marina Loizo Office of Legends. But it’s a completely different kind of bird played by Sarah Giraud in Le Bird syndromeA piece very loosely inspired by Natasha Kampusch’s captivity, which she repeats at Petit Saint-Martin in Paris. With Moliere in hand, she embodies here the madness, resilience and longing for freedom of a woman-child kidnapped by a man at the age of 10, then captured and abused for eighteen years in a cellar where she gives birth to a son; A major challenge for the actress, who is also celebrating her first production with this closed session.

Madame Figaro. – Was rebooting this show an obvious choice?
Sarah Giraudeau. – Yes, because I love this text by Pierre Tre-Hardy, which, despite the brutality of the situation, is imbued with hope, humor and poetry. Also suspenseful because it’s a real thriller, a rarity in theater. The play depicts the last hour of a captive’s imprisonment and questions whether he will escape. It gets the viewer’s adrenaline pumping and puts them in a dynamic that is mostly reserved for cinema.

What did you like about making the switch to directing? ?
I enjoyed spending time building the universe and being mentored by my partner Patrick d’Assumsao. Playing the big bad guy is tricky, but I wanted us to avoid the caricature of the big bad wolf and Little Red Riding Hood to raise universal questions that resonate even more after the recent news; how can people become barbaric and lack compassion? For example, a man who resorted to such violence was probably not a protected child raised by a loving family. I am not trying to justify monsters, but to understand the root of evil.

A root of hope also for the captive who glimpses the light ?
We had to find life in the dark. That’s why there is a picture in the decor. imagination allowed him to escape, art saved him. But if she endures, it is largely due to motherhood, like many prisoners who have had children with their jailers. His wings were broken, but his protective instinct, the wolf side, allowed him to increase his strength and take flight.

What is his prison metaphor for? ?
For example, the incarceration of women in our societies. To play, though, I mostly thought about what my biggest dungeon was; the school, the harshness of which I could not stand in childhood and adolescence. He challenged me to the point that when I got my bachelor’s degree, I really felt like I was flying. It was the end of a vicious cycle of limitations that kept me from doing what I wanted to do: being an artist. The end of school was my liberation, along with the beginning of adulthood, where I also tried to break away from family dictates.

I am not trying to justify monsters, but to understand the root of evil

Sarah Giraudeau

Doing the same job as your parents ?
Yes, because I dreamed about it. But getting rid of their image took time. At first, they kept bringing it back, and I couldn’t stand it. But playing, focusing on work helped me to find, to release my anger, to understand what I wanted to say, to be. The freedom I have gained today is that I talk about my parents with pride and pleasure.

You also mentioned the flight of your mother, Annie Dupery, when receiving your Moliere…
At first, I did not understand why I was so strongly attracted to this play with its terrible theme. But we are the fruit of an unwitting family history that permeates us. My mother lost her parents when she was 8 years old when they suffocated from carbon monoxide and then separated from her sister. Despite the family with a very dark trajectory, he knew how to give color and beauty to his life. He was my unconscious inspiration for the role.

You are often called a woman-child. Active to embody your personality ?
Generally, and yet I didn’t always see it that way. At first, people associated my voice, my body, my expressions with a form of naivety, which annoyed me. Today this amuses me. i’m much simpler than people want to believe and this apparent immaturity allows me to observe the world without attracting attention. This ambiguity was also an asset to my role as a spy Office of Legends.

My apparent youth allows me to observe the world without attracting attention

Sarah Giraudeau

Series: Everything is fine the movie The sixth child , this piece… Childhood is at the center of your latest projects. For what ?
Because it is the most sensitive core of life. It is a space of optimism, gentleness, imagination, and when it is violated, an entire future is at risk. I love the innocence of childhood, where we live only for the present moment. it is to rediscover that I do this work. When I play, I’m only in the moment, I’m not a parasite of everyday life, responsibilities, worries… And when childhood is at the heart of a role, it appeals to the little girl that I was, but also to the adult, built on a lot of motherhood. with strong desire. I knew very early on that life wouldn’t make sense if I went through it without children, without passing things down.

Go to staging Bird syndrome did it make you want to? ?
I could start again if I find the right project, but above all I want to direct for film. I have always dreamed of it, but my wish was confirmed by my documentary My heroes (2018) dedicated to the association Le Rire Médecin, which I support and which brings sunshine to children in hospital. But I miss two things to get behind the camera again. the subject matter that would make this desire a necessity, and the time I don’t have between my acting projects (he will direct Cedric Klapish’s next film, Editor’s Note) and my three daughters.

Bird syndrome, directed by Sara Giraudeau and Renaud Meyer, runs through April 20 at the Théâtre Petit Saint-Martin in Paris. portestmartin.com: