"Diary of a Chambermaid" Octave Mirbeau

From September 30 to October 18, 2026\nShows from Tuesday to Saturday at 8:15 PM – Sundays at 4:00 PM\n\nLe Journal of a chambermaid\nby a feminist Octave Mirbeau Figure of the early 20th century.\nCélestine leaves Paris for the "Province", where she works as a servant for wealthy bourgeois.\nThis masterpiece by Mirbeau, a true scandalous chronicle of provincial and Parisian morals of the Belle Epoque, draws us into...\n\nA funny and fierce satire!\n\nStaging: Danielle Fire Avec : Stéphanie Moriau Création lighting: Bruno Smit La play\nPublished in 1900, Le Journal of a chambermaid by Octave Mirbeau is a subversive novel that addresses a fierce portrait of the Belle Époque bourgeoisie through the eyes of Célestine, a perceptive chambermaid. Through a direct style, the work denounces the hypocrisy, perversion, and dehumanization of servants by their masters.\n\nA virulent social satire in the deconstruction of the myth of bourgeois respectability. The character depicts the futility of the masters she serves, notably the Lanlaires.\n\nCélestine becomes the privileged witness of the hidden vices of the upper class.\nMirbeau denounces the flaws of the bosses here. Célestine herself is described as sneaky, greedy, and manipulative.\nThe diary format allows for a fragmented narration, giving an impression of realism and raw confidences, where the bourgeoisie's \"dirty laundry\" is exposed.\nThe narrative is punctuated by the investigation into the murder of a little girl, a symbol of the barbarism lurking beneath the veneer of provincial society.\n\nThe author\nOctave Mirbeau is a playwright, journalist, critic, and art lover.\nBorn on February 16, 1848 into a notable family from Calvados, he spends a difficult childhood and adolescence with the Jesuits, then after the experience of the 1870 war, he moves to Paris in 1872 and makes his journalistic debut there.\nIn 1883, he becomes the editor-in-chief of "Grimaces", an anti-opportunist and anti-Semitic weekly, a point on which he would moreover very quickly self-criticize.\nHe was also renowned for his sense of justice, defending the oppressed and tirelessly denouncing the hypocrisy of political and religious institutions. He continuously contributed, through his books and articles, to the emancipation of minds and social progress.\nAuthor of the work that would be his greatest success, "Le Journal of a chambermaid", he was a visionary writer ahead of his time.