Traducteur(s) Margaret Séguin-Doré (Auteur féminin) Nombre de personnages 3 Personnage(s), 2 Femme(s), 1 Homme(s), 1 Acteur(s) Particularités distribution 1 woman |  |
Original
- Original en français par Isabelle Doré sous le titre de César et Drana [1992]
- Théâtre du Vieil Escaut, Valenciennes, France, 18 mars 1994, et Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui, saison 1994-1995
- Ce texte a été présenté en lecture publique par le CEAD, le 5 avril 1993.
Résumé
Unlike a dog who dies in his master's arms, Drana is a mistress who dies on her horse. Like a true
Gypsy, she proves the Romanian saying : “When you stay in one place, the sweat running from your
brow digs your grave. So, travel on!”
Plus d'informations »
- Décor: The stage is dark. Gypsy violins are playing. The wind whistles and we hear the laborious sound of a horse pulling a squeaky caravan. In the darkness, Drana shouts. We hear the horse's rhythm change briefly from a trot to a gallop then it slows and comes to a complete stop. César drops like a sack and draws his last breath. The wind howls. Lights. Drana is holding the reins in the driver's seat of a rickety caravan. Lying in front of it is the carcass of an enormous draft horse.
- Caractéristiques des personnages: DRANA, a Rom woman
The play has been conceived for an actress performing solo.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
No one has a sense of the dramatic to rival that of the Romany, the people generally referred to as Gypsies. I drew on their unique sayings and expressions to forge the character Drana. Curses such as -- "May the sun melt like tar"... "May my brain sweat like a cold beer"... "May my two eyes drop into the stewpot this minute if"... and sayings like "A Rom without a horse is not a Rom" or "With only one backside you can't ride two horses at once" -- served as a basis for the dichotomy of her character. Indeed, what could be more naïve than to challenge the sun, and yet more fiercely defiant than to believe such a thing possible?
In César and Drana life defies death just as death derides life. As the play begins, César dies. Contrary to the dog that expires in the arms of its master, it is the mistress Drana who finally succumbs huddled up against her horse's carcass. With her vitality intact to the very end she embodies another of her peoples' expressions: "When you stand still, the sweat that runs off your brow digs your grave -- so keep moving." It is by living she responds to death. It is by acting that she finally comes to a standstill.
Drana's Romany accent is a hybrid that draws on various European accents and the influences she has experienced over her lifetime. It is more or less invented.
Extrait
« DRANA : Do you remember when I sold you twice to the same Gorgio? I sold you in the morning… you came back in the evening, and I spent the night disguising you… I pierced your skin just above the eye and blew into the hole with a straw… Then I glued the hole shut to keep the air from escaping! That changed you… It made you look younger… »
Revue de presse
"Drana is a glance at eternity, a reflection on a world constantly renewed, a world that will never disappear, rendered in a suberb, dense text rich in imagery." La Voix du Nord,
Valenciennes, France, March 1994.
