Succession tells the story of a young woman and her grandmother’s escape from the shackles of family and society. This is a work of precise writing and implacable accuracy, in which the characters’ inner movements are accompanied by dance. It involves an all-too-familiar family dinner, a family dinner with grandparents, parents and children. Some arrive early, others arrive late. A family dinner where shared tenderness goes hand in hand with things left unsaid and hurtful words. Everyone remains in his or her place, the one assigned to them by their family, upbringing and society… until the grandmother, Suzanne, deserts this unchanging pattern and takes her granddaughter along with her.

This play was commissioned by Arnaud Cathrine and directed by a duo made up of dancer/choreographer Marie-Laure Caradec and actress/director Noémie Rosenblatt. Together they imagine a form of theater in which bodies are just as powerful as words for expressing both the desire to be oneself as well as the obstacles in its way. While determinism may be inscribed in our thoughts and gestures, there’s no age limit for breaking free!

By Caroline Châtelet Editor at the Comédie de Béthune