Les Règles du savoir-vivre dans la société moderne

A field par excellence where we sometimes penetrate the paradoxical relationship between being and appearing, the Theatre also offers us stage UFOs that give jugglers a hard time. This play is unquestionably one of them. On the first level, and most explicitly, it's the solemn and piquant unfolding of an immense protocol of manners from a bygone era: a Lady (whose name the author does not reveal) will joyfully review all the duties and all the prohibitions concerning the great events of life in society, namely birth, christening, engagement, marriage, silver and gold weddings, and mourning. This Lady (a kind of feminine Adam(e) naming all the sociological animals of Creation) will do this, alternating between the posture of a pythia and that of a slightly manic and eccentric mistress of a stately home. But there's no sign of personal confession, as her very substance merges totally with the protocol she ritually and plenarily deploys before us.