Émilie Rousset Maya Boquet

In Reconstitution : Le procès de Bobigny, first performed in 2019 as part of the Festival d’Automne, Émilie Rousset and Maya Boquet tackle an historical event : the trial, held on the 8th November 1972, of Marie-Claire Chevalier and her mother in response to the young girl's abortion after she was raped. A crucial moment in the advancement of women's rights, the trial lead by the renowned lawyer Gisèle Halimi crystallised the era's feminist combats and preoccupations, and received contributions, amongst others, from Simone de Beauvoir, Nobel prize-winning doctors, Delphine Seyrig and Michel Rocard. Using transcriptions from the trial itself, and with the addition of testimonies of a contemporary nature, Émilie Rousset and Maya Boquet question both the status of the archive and the resonance with today's world of the themes tackled. The highly original manner in which the piece is staged deconstructs the theatrical aspect of the trial. Each member of the audience is invited to make their own journey in terms of how they understand and appropriate the different events, via the path he or she navigates between the fifteen performers, each of which offers a first-person account. By giving spectators the opportunity to put the trial into perspective, the piece looks into the very notion of reconstitution and incongruity between an event, the documents it produces and its representation.
––––––
Running time : 2h30