The Vase

Spectacle en anglais. Un divorce tellement amical qu'on se demande pourquoi une séparation...

The Acting Crew was created as a dynamic new focus for Anglophone theatre in Paris. The depth, range and sheer numbers of English-speaking actors now living in the Ile de France provides a talent pool capable of supplying a wide variety of productions with high-level performing artists. The Acting Crew’s objective is to present both established, popular works and new plays representing the diverse faces, and facets, of Anglophone culture. The troupe grew out of a series of classes given by Eddie Crew, started in 1998, which brought together actors from various parts of the Paris theatre scene. Building from this base, the Acting Crew has forged co-production alliances with Moving Parts and the Théâtre les Déchargeurs to present its first set of plays. The Acting Crew intends to establish itself as a permanent production entity, unafraid to take the artistic risks needed to reach a broader audience of both French and expatriate theatre goers, by presenting exciting new productions.

The Moving Parts bilingual theatre group offers playwrights the opportunity to have new work read by actors in an informal workshop setting. Writers try out works-in-progress and develop their shows with the help of actors’ responses to the texts, as well as responses and critiques from audience members, and practical suggestions from other authors. Now in its fifth year, Moving Parts is expanding its activities, in conjunction with the Acting Crew and other theatre groups, to bring original plays to the stage in Paris, and to promote the translation of new plays between English and French.

Les Déchargeurs

Since 1982 the Théâtre les Déchargeurs has been a center for multicultural poetry and theatre in the heart of the Châtelet-Les Halles district of central Paris. The theatre -- a 16^th century relais de poste used in the 19th century as a banana-ripening depot and then a cheese warehouse -- was transformed by theatrical visionary Vicky Messica into a performing space that welcomes poetry, music and song from around France and the world. The theatre specializes in promoting young troupes that bring the latest in contemporary work to the Paris stage, and strives to make live theatre accessible to the broadest audience possible, including special series for children. The Théâtre les Déchargeurs maintains an active role in presenting English-language works, and in the creation and promotion of new plays.

Bridget and Donald are divorcing with such sensible good humor that even they have trouble believing it -- until, while sorting out their possessions, they find an antique vase that each of them would like to keep. Would very much like to keep. Polite disagreement hardens quickly into a brittle impasse -- all in front of their teenage daughter, Caitlin. At this delicate moment, Bridget’s brother Steve arrives with his lover Nathan, to take Caitlin away for the summer.

In the next 24 hours, every time the vase enters the scene, Bridget and Donald move closer to the powerful, outraged feelings that lie beneath their reasonable, intelligent behavior. Steve and Nathan struggle to hold together an increasingly awkward (and awful) situation with desperately applied doses of tact and wit. As relations between Bridget and Donald move inexorably toward a violent rupture, the gay couple is obliged to become the family’s base of stability and good sense.