INTRODUCTION 

       Krystian Lupa       (Les Présidentes, 1999) Extract from interviews

"[…] I consider that Schwab's "The Presidents" is a humane play. I find in it truthfulness, human behaviour, impressions of sensitivity, pain, a desire for happiness. Everything that makes up people's destiny. In our society there are more and more "excluded" people. They are subjected to a process of degradation for which they are not responsible. They are the victims of our civilisation and of our excessive demands. The characters in "The Presidents" are absolutely honest and are impatiently waiting for something good to come along, with happiness into the bargain. They are ready to subject themselves to any system of standards that might alleviate their solitude. Each of them was brought up in such a miserable and foolish way that religion has become a certainty for them but, at the same time, guaranties no support for them in life [...]. I look closely at these women and try to understand them. Why are they unable to raise themselves to a higher intellectual and spiritual level? Why are they unable to stand on their own two feet? Why - as they say in the media - can't they enjoy simple happiness? Happiness is so close but so inaccessible."

         Geneviève Jolly   Extract from "Obscenity and the stage: the theatre of Werner Schwab

"[…] It is the strength or specificity of effective theatre which gives oneself, as in Jarry's drama, the possibility to utter a "merdre". The plays of the Austrian Werner Schwab succeed in particular in doing this when scatology or sex is brought in to play, that is, anything which, in our so-called permissive society, undergoes a "sanitized" or at least consensual treatment: the morally or politically correct.

[…] But this theatre acquires another singularity, that of exhibiting desires and taboos, not to provoke cathartic or "carnivalesque" laughter at the farce, or to constitute a retarded form of "agitprop", but as a symbol of a poetic work, of an inventive and incredible way of talking, renewing ties with German Expressionism. Schwab's obscenity - or indecency - is neither crude nor "disgusting", nor purely comic or provocative, but is fundamentally associated with ethical, ideological and artistic values […]"

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PRESENTATION

THE COMPANY

We chose Schwab because we consider it important to play a contemporary author, one who is often unrecognised. We want to defend his theatre, his word and a certain political vision. Through this play we would like to create a link with the public and be able, if people so wish, to debate questions raised by the play itself or the theatre in general. Our aim is not just to put on a play but afterwards to be able to really reflect on our work together with the public, an exchange of ideas other than purely theatrical. This word that we want to defend on stage must be able to find its continuation elsewhere, amongst the spectators, the local people or students, for example. We are therefore committed to free speech and to a citizen's theatre.

THE AUTHOR, WERNER SCHWAB (1958-1993)

Werner Schwab was born at Graz (Austria), a conservative, Catholic village in Styria. He had a solitary childhood, conditions were difficult, living with his mother in damp cellars. As an adolescent he studied sculpture at the Decorative Arts school in Graz then spent two years studying at the National Art school in Vienna. However, little by little, Schwab grew to hate the Viennese art world and in 1981 retired with his wife to a little farm in the depths of Styria where they catered to their own needs.

Schwab made sculptures of perishable matter such as intestines, skins, sugar, soot and bones. During this period too his writing developed. A singular style of writing, rich in images and meaning.

His first play, "The Presidents", (also translated as "Holy Mothers" and "First Ladies") came out in 1990. His second play "Overweight" was played at the Mülheim festival where it won the Audience Award. He rapidly gained notoriety as much for his brilliant style of writing as for the scandal provoked by the violent and funny universe of his plays and for his excessive and stupefying personality. He wrote fifteen plays in all before he died from alcoholism.

Viennese Actionism and Werner Schwab

We do not know if Werner Schwab was directly involved with Viennese actionists or not but we can allow ourselves to draw a short parallel; they lived in the same country at the same time and the same line of thought and artistic practice can be observed.

First of all let us define Viennese actionism:

It was a short and violent 20th-century artistic movement, regarded as a 1960s independent tentative to develop action art. Its main participants were Gunter Brus, Adolf Frohner, Otto Muehl, Joseph Dvorak, etc. They were active as actionists between 1960 and 1971. Several of them continued their artistic work independently from the 1970s onwards.

In an interview with Thierry Laurent talking about Otto Muehl, Danièle Roussel says that actionism can be explained through the history of Austria during the years of frustration due to the amputation of the territory and Nazism. According to him, Hitler is the product of 2000 years of Christianity and castrating culture. The Austrians never questioned their guilt. The ex-Nazis just went quietly back to work and it was in this suffocating atmosphere that the Viennese actionists hit out brutally. Actionism represents the image of a world that suppresses these impulses. It shows, in a radical and brutal manner, the oppressive reality. Actionism seeks to break down the barriers of the unconscious, to free us from the taboos imposed by our education.

Actionism portrays "material actions" like the actors cutting the throat of a chicken, free sexual expression on stage, giving free rein to violent impulses... In his plays, Schwab stages "sacrifices" and situations where people eat each other, orgies, sexual acts... He talks about the frustration of his personal life and that of his country. He criticizes the "right-minded" Catholic of the time by illustrating and exploring certain taboos connected with sexuality or his country's history.

Schwab's theatre is neither pornographic nor erotic, and on this subject he practices subversion rather than revolution. (G. Jolly)

THE PLAY, THE PRESIDENTS

Three women looking for hypothetical happiness, confront their speech and their fantasies in order to forget their hollow existence. Through the portrait of these grotesque, troubling but no less sensitive women, Werner Schwab, in a language which is ferocious, exacting and droll, denounces "right-mindedness" and a tidy life made up of rules and regulations in which you have to portray nice people in films so that people become nicer.

The play lasts 1 hour 40 minutes

Two acts without an intermission

Résumé

"The Presidents" is the story of three women, Erna, Grete and, the youngest, Marie. Three bigots whose moral standards are built on those of the Catholic church, what they see on TV, what the Pope and the President say. It's a sort of in camera where the three characters play out their vision of life, made up of contradictions and gross stupidity. Between them they criticize each other on the whys and wherefores of life and each of them is seen to be as mediocre as the other. Only Marie seems to be able to cope with her condition and she will reveal truths to the other two that they will not want to hear. Marie disturbs by her innocent expression and a pure goodness not spoilt by appearances and human baseness. So it's her that Erna and Grete, all power to their hypocritical Catholic morals, will quite naturally get rid of.

The text is both very crude and very funny but it is also cynical and tragic because it relates in an absurd and exaggerated way the solitude of these three women and their fanaticism for the church. We are in the very trivial everyday life of these beings for whom bad thoughts come simply from bad stools which in turn come from bad diet... Marie cleans toilets as she would people's souls.

Act 1

They get together at Erna's and unreservedly lay bare their idea of life. Erna, the most inhibited, a thrift maniac, moans all the time about her son who hates her and refuses to give her any grandchildren. Grete, the dissolute, talks about her daughter who disowns her too. But Grete has her little dog, Lydie, who she seems to love and understand more than human beings. In the middle is Marie who spreads the good word and does good deeds. She tells about why people love her and send for her: to unblock the toilets. It's the same impression as shaking someone's hand.

Act 2

In Act 2 the three women drink a glass of wine for why shouldn't old biddies like them enjoy themselves a bit. They each give free rein to their imagination and relate what they would like to experience at a party. Erna imagines being with Wottila, her pork butcher, and dreams of their possible future life together. Greta for her part tells of her very sensual meeting with a musician called Freddy, and Marie is all excited because she imagines that everyone looks for her during the party to unblock three toilets in which surprises are hidden. But carried away by her tale, Marie begins to tell the "truth" about what is really happening and a horrible vision appears to Erna and Grete. Marie shows them that their life is totally miserable. Erna and Grete are not able to bear the truth and they kill Marie.

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The Actresses

CATHERINE DENIS

After a Performing Arts (theatre section) degree at the university of Paris 8 where, notably, she took part in acting workshops under the direction of Alain Astruc and Claude Buchwald, Catherine Denis completed her training at the Montreuil acting school then at the Theatre du Lierre. She has performed in numerous plays amongst which: Sophocles' "Electra" (direction C. Buchwald), "Yes, peut être" by Marguerite Duras (produced by La Compagnie Raphaël), "A kind of Alaska" by Harold Pinter (direction Pierre Vincent), "Inventaires" by Philippe Minyana (C. Cardoso), "Annabelle et Zina" by Christian Rullier (N. Gaillard), "La Casa de Bernada Alba" by F. Garcia Lorca and Euripides' "The Trojans" (two productions directed by Jean Guerrin)... With the company Les Chimères du Chevralet she produced and directed "Signes de Ville" based on texts by Annie Ernaux.

MARTINE HERITIER

For 15 years Martine Héritier has been part of a theatre company working on improvisations and approaches to playing the clown and Comedia dell'arte. At the same time, she completed her studies at the Belle de Mai acting school with J.C. Grinewold, took part in training courses with G. Freixe, with Aloual at the Theatre du Lierre and with Penchenat at the Theatre du Campagnol. She did vocal training with J. Gironde. She has performed in numerous productions ("Malleus Maleficarum", "Smara" by Michel Vieuchange, "Pour qui crie la chouette", "Lettre d'une inconnue" by Stéfan Zweig) and in plays by authors such as F. Garcia Lorca "Bodas de Sangre", Molière "Le Mariage Forcé", Shakespeare "As You Like It", Musset "On Ne Badine Pas Avec l'Amour". She directed several plays for young people including Maeterlinck's "The Bluebird" and musical comedies.

CAROLE PEREIRA

Carole Pereira trained with J.L. Pérignac at the Theatre de la Coupe d'Or and at Poitiers where she directed a company for three years. She has worked with J.P. Berthomier, Eric Bergeonneau, Eric Chaussebourg with whom she produced plays such as "La Femme Seule" by Franca Rame, "Barrouf à Chioggia" by Goldoni, "Don Juan Comes Back from the War" by Horvath, "Roberto Zucco" by Koltès or "Les Co-épouses" by Fatima Gallaire... In Paris she studied with Martine Harmel at the Theatre de la Danse, with J.L. Martinelli at the Amandiers, with Laurence Roy, and joined the Cheval Noir company where she acted the parts of both men and women: Nora in "The Shadow of the Glen" (Synge), Smirnov in Tchekhov's "The Bear", John in "The Factory" (Dahlström)...

She has also carried out a lot of research into the theatre of Ibsen, Camus and Genet; she is now turning to more contemporary dramatic works and participates in cinematographic projects ("Paroxysmes" best scenario prize at Cineffable).

The Director

CATRIONA LAING

Catriona Laing has been in the theatre since she was 7 and studied acting in theatre companies in Nantes. She continued her theatrical training in Paris, notably with Philippe Dormoy. Being interested in other artistic forms as well, she joined Annie Fratellini's Circus school. She has done tap dancing for many years as well as contemporary dancing.

Catriona explores the different aspects of theatrical production, from acting to directing and including the design, manufacture and manipulation of puppets. It was while doing a D.E.S.S. stage direction course that she discovered puppetry and she trained with, amongst others, François Lazarro. She practised object theatre with Jacques Templereau and since then has been making puppets and creating puppet and object theatre shows for adults.

Since 2006 she has been directing and producing contemporary plays and puppet shows for adults for the Whisky Time company based in Paris.

Her references in the theatre include, amongst others, Kantor, Brecht, Py, Wuttke, Nadj, etc. She is also inspired by such artists as Schiele, Bacon, Dix, etc. In all her many different productions, Catriona Laing defends, above all, an involved, committed theatre.

The Technicians

EMILIE STEMER: Stage design

Emilie Stemer graduated from ESAM (Modern Arts College) in interior design. Turning her interests to the theatre, she specialised in stage design. She now creates and builds scenery for the theatre, cinema and television.

MATHILDE GIBEAUX: Costumes

Mathilde Gibeaux learned her profession at the Fine Arts School and other training courses, notably with the costume designer Jeanne Kolifrat. Mathilde works at the "Academie du Bal Costumé" and makes costumes for the cinema, theatre, as well as ready-to-wear, etc.

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EXTRACT ACT 1

Marie bursts out laughing again and puts both hands over her mouth.

Erna: Stop it Grete, I can't listen to your bad language any longer. You always come out with such vulgar words. All we ever hear from you is: "shit, shit, shit". You could just as well say "stool" or " big doo's", not "shit, shit, shit" all the time.

Grete: You always find something to say, you always criticise everything, you bring people down all through their lives and then you're surprised that Hermann doesn't want to have intercourse.

Erna, a bit put out: But in that case life isn't really worth living if you find stinking stools next to everything you look at. Often it's to do with the few pleasant things of life, and just as you touch these beautiful things you find yourself with a load of shit in your hand.

Marie: Really bad words don't bother me and nor do real stools. What does it matter, if you don't know what it is? It's soft and warm when it's fresh. She pulls herself up proudly. People always say: Oh no, the loos are blocked, quick! go and get Marie and bring her here, she does it without. For everyone knows that little Marie doesn't wear rubber gloves when she rummages around the toilet bowl. Erna almost vomits, she turns away. People from the best families come to see me when their toilets are constipated. So little Marie has access to the most elegant homes and everywhere she goes she is treated kindly. As for me, I don't honestly feel like vomiting when I rummage around toilet bowls; it's a sacrifice I make for our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us all on the Cross. Distinguished people from good families always ask me if I want to wear rubber gloves because they are very polite, well educated people. But our little Marie she says NO, for if the Lord God made the whole world, he also made human excrement.