Le Président

The story begins with a failed assassination attempt: the president narrowly escapes death. His colonel isn't so lucky—nor is the First Lady's dog, a complete loss for the latter.
This comedy of power, at once caustic, biting, and exhilarating, highlights two dithyrambic figures whose certainties are cracking. Behind the statesman or woman, what human being is hiding? In Bernhard's work, there's no Manicheism: just a "comico-philosophical" irony that encourages us to reflect, doubt, and laugh at our own failings.
In this adaptation for three actors, the play plays on the theme of mise en abyme: from the backstage of a closed-door meeting at the president's home to the president's grand media spectacle in the spotlight. Between them, a third character—by turns chambermaid, mistress, or witness—witnesses the grand spectacle of power... and could very well turn everything upside down. “The paths of politics are the same as the paths of art (…) and you are entering the greatest, most renowned, most respected theater, my child.” — Thomas Bernhard