Les Abîmés

This is the story of Ludo and P'tit Lu, two brothers mistreated by their father, whom social services come to collect in order to take them to safety. P'tit Lu, aged seven, is placed in a children's home. Ludo, aged twelve, hides and runs away. The two spend several years apart.

At first resistant to everything, P'tit Lu gradually becomes attached to Nora, a radiant educator who introduces him to sewing. He develops a passion for making clothes.

Ludo is taken in, in Brittany, by the great-grand-aunt of his best friend Faïza, who introduces him to the charms of the piano. Will they end up finding each other again?

The author Catherine Verlaguet tackles the delicate subject of domestic violence and the possibility of rebirth with a blend of sharpness, humour and poetry. Starting from a grave situation, she focuses on the strength of the sibling bond.

What is one to do with the violence one has suffered? The listening skills and kindness of the two young women, Faïza and Nora, open up paths of resilience for the boys.

To stage this sensitive text, written from a child's-eye view, Bénédicte Guichardon entrusts four performers with the task of narrating or acting out the scenes, within an ingenious set design in which the original music accompanies the development of the plot.

Emotion surfaces very quickly, thanks to a performance built entirely on restraint. In this coming-of-age journey, accessible to all, the encounters the two brothers make carry us along with them towards the light and their strong desire to live.