Mister Linh flees his war-ravaged country in search of a better future for his granddaughter. Mister Linh doesn’t feel at home in the foreign land where he finds himself, until one day he meets mister Bark.
Mister Bark talks mainly about his wife who died recently. Mister Linh doesn’t understand him but he listens, his little girl on his lap. They meet on the same bench in the park every day until one day everything changes...
Based on a novella by Philippe Claudel La petite fille de monsieur Linh is a moving story about a man who has to flee his country with the little he has left.
Jules Werner does the show as a monologue. Because Werner is alone on stage and performs all of the roles – the narrator, Mr Linh and Mr Bark – it gains a special flavour, atmosphere and significance. It becomes a show about the power of the imagination and of portrayal.
Werner tells the story with all of the means available to him: dramatic action, words, images, music, sound, projections….But at the same time it is also a show about loneliness, about the longing to communicate with others – and not in the last place, with the audience. Are we in the head of the narrator? Are Mr Linh and Mr Bark voices in his head? Is telling the story his way of coping with trauma?
The English version is a coproduction with Les Théâtres de la ville de Luxembourg (LU).
Guy Cassiers, expert at combining scenic means, reaches the pinnacle of his art here. But it also had to be brought to life by an actor. Jules Werner – who this time performs in English – proves himself up to the challenge, and then some. (...) The show is gripping in terms of how it speaks about our human realities and how theatre is made. It has a refinement that is superb.
"Werner deservedly gained a standing ovation from the audience members for his opening night performance."
"Jules Werner is exceptional in this monologue (….) Cassiers is a magician when it comes to precision and subtlety. Everything rings true in this narrative about loneliness and uprootedness. (...) Philippe Claudel, Guy Cassiers and Jules Werner touch us deeply with this simply story, like a whispering in our ears."
director
- Guy Cassiers
text
- Philippe Claudel
with
- Jules Werner
video design
- Klaas Verpoest
sound design
- Diederik De Cock
costume advice
- Tim Van Steenbergen
coproduction
- Toneelhuis
- Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg
