Les Justes by Albert Camus
‘neither victims nor executioners’
Les Justes was performed on 3rd, 4th and 5th March 2004 at 7.30pm at the
Greenwood Theatre, Weston Street, SE1
scenes from the production
It was the first French Department play for a good long while and was directed,
produced and performed by students in the department. We hoped that this would
lead to an annual department play.
rehearsals in progress
Who better to introduce it than the author himself, who had this to say in 1949:
“In February 1905, in Moscow, a group of terrorists who were part of the
revolutionary socialist party organized an attempt on the life of the Grand Duke
Serge, uncle of the Tsar. This attempt, and the unusual circumstances leading up to
and following it, are the subject of Les Justes. No matter how extraordinary some of
the situations in this play may seem, they are the truth. This is not to say that Les
Justes is a historical play. But all the characters did actually exist, and behaved as I
have written. I only tried to make realistic the things which really happened. I kept the
real name of the hero, Kaliayev. I didn't do this from lack of imagination, but out of
respect and admiration for those men and women who, in the most contemptible of
efforts, were still not able to get rid of their own hearts. Progress has been made
since then, it is true, and the hate which weighed down those exceptional souls into
intolerable suffering has now become a comfortable system. But that is even more
reason to bring back these great ghosts and the story of their justified revolt, their
difficult brotherhood, and the unmeasurable efforts they made to put themselves in
tune with murder - and thus to show where their true faith lay.”
Acts I, II, III and V take place in the flat used by the terrorists during the planning and
aftermath of the attempt. The hero, Kaliayev, has the same name as the terrorist on
whom the character is based. He is not prepared to harm the innocent in order to
bring about the revolution. Camus introduced one fictional character to show the
wrongs of the Communist party – Stepan. As an extremist he is even prepared to kill
children if ordered to by the organisation. For Stepan, any means used to bring
about the revolution are justified. The main arguments in the play are between these
two characters, but the other three terrorists – Annenkov, Dora and Voinov, all suffer
the same anxiety as they try to convince themselves that their actions are just.
Act IV takes place in prison after the attempt. Here, Kaliayev is visited by the Grand
Duchess, who is compassionate and considers sparing his life if he will ask God’s
forgiveness for his crime. Skouratov, the police chief, makes him the same offer but
at a different cost: the betrayal of his comrades. All this presents Kaliayev with a
dilemma – to give in and live as a murderer or to die for his act.
Whilst producing Les Justes, we tried to stay true to Camus’ sense of theatre. There
is no sound, no lighting effects or elaborate costumes. The characters’ movements
are also very restricted – all of which serves to enhance Camus’ words. The action
of the play comes from the moral arguments between the characters. In this respect,
Les Justes is very similar to Greek tragedy.
We did have to make one major change to Camus’ script. Due to the lack of male
interest in the auditions, we have changed some of the terrorists from male to female
parts. Rather than have our female actors try to perform in a masculine way, or edit
the script extensively, changing all the masculine adjectives to feminine, we have
simply removed a few lines from the script. Annenkov, Kaliayev, Foka and Stepan
have not been feminised as characters – these parts retain all the same
characteristics despite being played by actors of the opposite gender.
Cast profiles (in order of appearance)
Julia Boyle (Annenkov): Julia is a final year French & Portuguese student whose
reasons for taking part in Les justes are two: a) to impress any teachers in
attendance who might be grading her oral exam and b) because it’s a great play.
Adelaide Mangou (Dora): Adelaide comes from an area of France. She has come
over here to eat inferior cheese and to study physiotherapy. When she has finished
her studies she will return to the land of equality, brotherhood and liberty to sate her
sophisticated palate.
Elyssa Skaff (Stepan): Elyssa spent eight years of her young life training to be Geri
Halliwell’s replacement as Goodwill Ambassador for the UN. When this fell through,
she decided to focus on developing an anti-gravity scone.
Peter Westmacott (Voinov): Peter is a keen thespian and Francophile. He was
born in London but raised in cultural isolation amongst the orchard covered and
cider-soaked fields of North Yorkshire. His ambition is to achieve celebrity status and
lend his visage to advertising for the continued stimulation of the Western capitalist
economy.
Bertille Presta (Kaliayev): Bertille came into the hands of the French Department
through an ironic twist of fate. She was discovered by a travelling band of
troubadours who used her a slave. She escaped during a particularly heated tenso
and stowed away on a merchant ship which sank under Waterloo Bridge. She was
saved and left to dry out by Somerset House which meant she was in a convenient
position to begin her academic assault on King’s.
Daniel Prim (Le Gardien): Daniel is a fun-loving final year student who has already
appeared in a number of King’s Players productions. About his small but significant
role in Les justes, he said: “put a bunch of twigs together and they don’t break,
they’re an ensemble.”
Rebecca Bowker (Foka): Rebecca currently living under the protection of Special
Branch after her rôle a piece of experimental street theatre that was heavily critical of
package holidays. Her interest in the politicisation of street theatre stems from her
meeting with the like-minded Buscia Shuvof, an ex-member of the now discredited
Popular Party for the Liberation of Resort Towns.
Adrien Oost (Skouratov): Adrien has a pet parrot. He is a nice guy but also the
ultimate cad. His character would like to remind you that CCTV is in operation in the
theatre. Your every breath is monitored. Applause will be rewarded. We are
watching you.
Joanna Frawley (La Grande Duchesse): Joanna feels passionately about many
things. Unlike the share price of Standard Chartered, French culture and acting
excellence are two of these things. She loves life, pancakes and her exceptional bed
& breakfast in East Finchley where she psychologically prepares daisies for the
Chelsea Flower Show.
Crew
Director – Jon Baldwin
Producer / co-director – Luke Sunderland
Art director – Veronica Humphris
Lighting – Yuma Terada
Stage managers – Ashley Bryant and Rosalind Dore
Asst. stage manager – Joan Davison
Front of House – Liz Montgomery and Mike Shephard
Introductory talk – Jo Malt
Thanks to
Nick Smith
Robin Hawkes
Christine Theo
All the ushers