The Just Assassins

We can summarize Les Justes by writing that it is a group of revolutionary socialists who are preparing an attack in February 1905 in Moscow with the idea of assassinating the tyrant. We can also tell the story of a group of young people who choose revolt to give life a chance. It is this version that Jean-Baptiste Delcourt defends in his staging of the work of Albert Camus, revived this season after the success met at the creation of the show. Directing his actors as if they were “struggling for life”, he continues his political and sensitive exploration of great, demanding texts. The staging puts us face to face with the moral limits of revolutionary action, however just the causes may be. At the moment of throwing the bomb at the Duke’s carriage, Kaliayev spots children in the carriage. What to do? Camus’s text is philosophically suspended on this choice, sending us back to the question of democracy, of the common, of the radicality of the gesture. This tension between revolt and love, justice and radicality, Jean-Baptiste Delcourt explores with seven young actors, to propose a chamber of echoes and reflections for our ultra-violent current events. Focusing methodically on the preparations for the attack and its consequences, the director proposes to dismantle the fantasized narratives, to bring out the notion of responsibility in the face of our choices, but also the possibility of a renewal.