Among the multitude of shows offered at the Avignon Festival's fringe events, "The Cicada and the Lion," presented by the Tarbes-based Compagnie de l'Illustre Corsaire, stood out. A delightful immersion into La Fontaine's Fables, which we learn by heart from primary school onward. The cicada who thinks of nothing but singing, the wicked fox ready to do anything to get his cheese, the lion who desperately needs someone smaller than himself, or the wolf who wouldn't mind a kid goat for lunch. Characters that have become familiar to us through repeated, and then repeated, these timeless verses. But then, when the ant can no longer bear to hear the cicada sing all summer and lament in winter that she has nothing left to eat, all hell breaks loose! The lion has the cicada arrested, and the rumor of her imprisonment echoes endlessly throughout the forest. An opportunity arises for the fox, who seizes it to stage a coup with the wolf's complicity. When the characters step out of their respective fables, anything seems possible. The verses intertwine, sweeping us away into a fable gone wrong!
Nearly an hour of performance, Maya Paquereau interprets improbable encounters between the cicada, the wolf, the lion, the fox, and the tortoise, complete with some delightful songs. A whimsical take on these classic fables, sure to please children and adults alike! For those who missed the Avignon performance, you'll have to wait until the end of the year to see the show in the Hautes-Pyrénées: December 10th in Arreau and December 17th for school groups at the MJC in Aureilhan.
