The famous Théâtre du peuple is located in the little town of Bussang in the Vosges. It was created in 1895 by Maurice Pauttecher. It was originally an open-air theatre. There are large doors at the back of the stage which can be slid back to allow the audience to see the mountains.

In 2023, during the summer holidays, I was lucky enough to see a famous play in this beautiful theatre: Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, adapted and staged by the Compagnie Yanua (Katja Husinger and Rodolphe Dana). 

This play tells the story of Cyrano, a great musketeer who has a complex about his nose and is in love with his cousin Roxane. But she is in love with Christian, another musketeer with an advantageous physique. Cyrano helps Christian seduce her by writing love letters for Christian to Roxane. She falls in love with Cyrano's words, believing they come from Christian. In the end, Christian dies in battle and Roxane discovers the truth about the letters, realising that Cyrano was her true love. Cyrano dies, leaving Roxane to cry the loss of her one true love.

What I really enjoyed about this play was the acting, with the actors identifying perfectly with their characters. Moreover, the story of this play is very interesting, with its great monologues and its many twists and turns. I particularly enjoyed scene 4 of Act 2 (the nose tirade) and scene 7 of Act 3 (the declaration). There's also the place where the play took place: the theatre is all-wood built, with the back of the stage opening out onto the countryside, so you can bring in horses or enjoy the scenery with the weather as an added accessory. Indeed, this idyllic setting adds something that can't be found in any other theatre.

Some of the lines are very funny, others are full of poetry. I found the final act rather disappointing as it feels like the story is coming to an end too quickly. Despite the length (three-hours long!), the time passes quite quickly thanks to the way the play is staged, which makes it look recent though the piece dates back more than 120 years.

Jules Tilly