A handful of intermittent performers have taken over the Théâtre national populaire (TNP) in Villeurbanne, in the wake of the occupation of that of the Odeon in Paris, in a protest movement that goes beyond the sole question of reopening the premises. cultural. Since Friday March 12, life has been organized inside the monumental building with its slender pediment, inherited from socialist architecture.
General assemblies follow one another on a daily basis. No more than fifty participants inside, for health precaution. Otherwise, the meeting is held on the square, in the middle of the skyscrapers, named after the district erected at the turn of the 1930s in the center of the working-class city, neighboring Lyon the bourgeoisie.
During the day, about fifty artists occupy the premises in a permanent rotation. At night, a dozen sleep on the spot, in turn. Among them, Ophelia Llorens-Cornet, 24, who spent three nights in a lodge, close to the ghosts of Jean Vilar, Roger Blin, Antoine Vitez… “We found a way to come back! “, quips the young actress with messy blond hair.
“To reinvest this place is to open a popular forum. We may wonder which world we will really reopen. »Ophelia Llorens-Cornet, actress
Deprived of any artistic production for a year, the young woman, determined to no longer suffer the events, has chosen to return to the theater through a back door. “For months, I have had the feeling of working in a vacuum. I repeat, I write, I repeat, I create endlessly, without an audience. I wanted to get out of a bubble. Here, I meet galley slaves like me ”, says Ophelia. The young artist graduated from the Art en scène theater school at the end of 2019 in Lyon.
In the following months, she created a show based on testimonies from the war in Bosnia. A story telling the siege of Sarajevo through the voices of orphans. Then, to ensure her subsistence, she did several odd jobs, including that of opener… at the NPT. His play could never be performed. Ten dates have been canceled due to restrictions. The health crisis has broken his calendar and shaken his confidence a little.
Coming from a modest family, without a militant tradition, Ophelia does not display specific political convictions. She doesn’t know if she should vote or for whom. She followed several recent demonstrations, in defense of the climate, against the law of “ global security », Without wanting to formulate a theoretical discourse. “My commitment is reflected especially in my shows”, sums up the young woman.
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