FIAF presents Francis Huster: Albert Camus, La Peste
By: Gabrielle Sierra Feb. 25, 2011
The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), New York's premiere French cultural center, presents a special performance by one of France's most acclaimed actors, Francis Huster. On March 3, the renowned thespian and former member of La Comédie Française will present his award-winning adaptation of Nobel Laureate Albert Camus' La Peste, in its New York premiere.
An existentialist classic, La Peste, written by Albert Camus and published in 1947, tells the story of medical workers finding solidarity in their labor as the Algerian city of Oran is swept by a plague. It asks a number of questions relating to the nature of destiny and the human condition. The characters in the book, ranging from doctors to vacationers to fugitives, all help to show the effects the plague has on the general public. The narrative tone is similar to Kafka's, especially in The Trial, where individual sentences potentially have multiple meanings, the material often resonating as a stark metaphor for phenomenal consciousness and the human condition. Camus even included a dim-witted character reading The Trial as a mystery novel as an oblique homage. La Peste has been interpreted as a metaphorical treatment of the French resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II.
About Francis Huster
Francis Huster is an acclaimed actor, known for his many powerful performances on stage and screen. Possessing dark good looks and a natural charisma, Huster has performed in a variety of roles both dramatic and comedic, from classic heroes to amiable sidekicks. A longtime member of the Comédie Française, Huster founded the theater troupe Compagnie Francis Huster, which has included the actors Clotilde Courau and Olivier Martinez, among others. Huster has been seen by American audiences in The Dinner Game (Le dîner de cons), the original French film that inspired the 2010 U.S. remake, Dinner for Schmucks. Huster is also a playwright, screenwriter, and director, and worked with Jean-Paul Belmondo in his recent 2008 film A Man and His Dog (Un homme et son chien). In 2010, Huster was appointed director of the national theater group Les Tréteaux de France by French Minister of Culture Frédéric Mittérand. An expert on the French Algerian author Albert Camus, Huster was awarded the prestigious Prix du Brigadier for adapting, directing and performing in his one-man-show based on Camus' novel The Plague (La Peste).
Albert Camus grew up in Algiers, the son of Lucien Camus, an agricultural worker who died in the First World War, and Catherine Sintes, a young servant of Spanish origin. After obtaining his baccalaureate in 1932, he studied philosophy. Camus then went into journalism, writing for the newspaper Alger Républicain, where his articles attracted interest. Later, he moved to Paris, and was hired by Paris Soir. During those years, Camus' novel The Stranger was published. In 1999, it was ranked at the top of a list of the 100 best books of the 20th century. In 1936, Camus founded the Théâtre du Travail and together with three close friends wrote Révolte dans les Asturies, a play that was banned. At the start of World War II, he joined a resistance movement in Paris along with Jean-Paul Sartre, with whom he grew close. After the liberation of Paris, he became editor-in-chief of the newspaper Combat. La Peste was published in 1947 and found immediate success. Camus' works, articulated around the themes of the absurd and revolt, are inseparable from his public stances on Francoism, Communism, and Algeria's quest for independence. Passionate about theater, Camus also adapted to the stage Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957 "for his important literary production, which with clear-sighted earnestness illuminates the problems of the human conscience in our times." Three years later, Camus died in a tragic car accident. About FIAF
FIAF's mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross-cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression. www.fiaf.orgMerci!
Special thanks to Sofitel New York.
FIAF - Florence Gould Hall; 55 East 59th Street (between Park and Madison Avenues)
Admission:
$40 FIAF Members; $50 Non-Members.
Tickets:
fiaf.org | 800 982 2787
Information:
fiaf.org | 212 355 6160
Transportation:
Subway - 4, 5, 6, N, R and Q to 59th Street & Lexington Avenue;
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