Le Signal Du Promeneur at Theatre National

What drives a man to make a complete break with his background, even with society as a whole? To put up opposition to a well-defined destiny with a revolt which is the heartfelt cry of the living? Made up of young actors from the Liège Conservatory, the Raoul Collectif takes up these questions by calling on a series of real characters who took off at a tangent in this way. But this group of actor-creators doesn’t tell their stories, it fantasises them. It joyfully intermingles the disparate threads of these destinies and weaves them anew into an exhilarating reflection on the way in which each person tries to make his way, in a series of scenes which might at first seem unconnected but which the group mixes intelligently to serve this vast subject. Assisted by a remarkable group dynamic which has something of a brotherhood about it, the five young men ask the right questions, point out the malfunctions of a society which is suffocating. But with such a light touch!

With such formal inventiveness! And also, above all, with brash, almost schoolboy humour, which is largely responsible for the natural empathy which we feel for the false zaniness and the meaningful poetry of an amazingly mature work. Visually accomplished, often as extraordinary in its form as it is thoughtful in its contents, funny from beginning to end, Le Signal du promeneur is a wonderful breath of fresh air!