Dates: Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 PM, and Sundays at 4:30 PM, from October 18 to November 10, 2024

Location: Le Guichet Montparnasse

Cast: Written by Desiderio Montironi, Featuring Nina Karacosta, Directed by Driss Touati

In a delicate and poetic staging, the new play La femme au bouquet invites us to follow a woman in search of herself, along a path scattered with wildflowers and memories. Through her simple gestures, picking flowers in a field, she dives back into her past, revealing fragments of her life while crafting a bouquet that becomes a symbol of her emotions and encounters.

This woman, whose face brightens and darkens with her thoughts, recalls a man to whom she entrusted her deepest wounds. Their meeting, their complicity, and the laughter they shared punctuate the text, alternating with moments of gravity. Through this imaginary dialogue with the man, a subtle reflection emerges on how relationships can shape our scars and open spaces for inner reconciliation.

The audience is transported through multiple timeframes: the present, anchored in the tender act of flower-picking; the past, where conversations with this man return like echoes; and a more distant time, where she revisits significant events in her life, such as the loss of her mother and her departure from an institution. This distant time is sometimes tinged with a rich imagination, where she converses with the writers who have influenced and inspired her.

As the play progresses, a deeply buried, almost inaudible voice emerges from her introspection. This voice, one she never thought she could express, rises with unexpected emotional strength. The play thus explores the complexity of the human soul, the layers of intertwined memories, and the liberating power of language.

The staging, minimalist and elegant, gives space to the beauty of the text and the intensity of the actress’s performance, while creating an atmosphere conducive to reflection and introspection. The wildflowers, ever-present, become symbols of the bright or fragile emotions that mark this woman's journey.

La femme au bouquet is a rare production where poetry and introspection meet to offer the audience an intimate and moving theatrical experience. The spectators, caught up in this whirlwind of thoughts and memories, will likely recognize themselves in this search for self, where each flower picked becomes a fragment of life that one seeks to understand and tame.

I was particularly struck by the fluidity with which the play takes us through different timeframes. The present, where she stands in the field, feels suspended, while the past with the man she confided in comes back in waves. The exchanges with him are filled with both complicity and a gentle gravity, giving the play a beautiful range of emotions. I was moved by her more distant memories, especially the death of her mother and her departure from the institution—significant events that resurface with poignant force.