Beautiful masks! Followed by an unpublished interview of Benno Besson (Victor Hugo's 'Mangeront-ils'?)

The opportunity for this article to pay an ultimate homage to Benno Besson, this inheritor of Brecht, is given by the publication of an unpublished interview with him concerning his half-political, half-dreamy production of Mangeront-ils ?, Victor Hugo's play about love and death inhabited by the deep and paradoxical freedom found in exile. The director explains in it his epic and burlesque work, based on a very strong aesthetic and ideological stance. Creating a synthesis of arts, genres and senses which gives a great role to imagination, this theatre, re-enchanting the world, has transformed the stage into a space where a playful ritual celebrates and embodies the world. The theatre, thus redefined in its social and political complexity, has conquered the most varied European audiences for more than sixty years. Benno Besson's death is not only a loss for the professional theatre, it will leave the contemporary stage empty and sad.