Ici sont les dragons : Deuxième époque

A grand popular show inspired by real events, in several eras.

A collective creation by Théâtre du Soleil in harmony with Hélène Cixous, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine

"How the malice of the wicked was reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous"

In 1918, at the end of the first world war, there was a deep conviction and almost universal hope that peace would reign in the world. This aspiration of all peoples could have been fulfilled by common sense, prudence, and the stability of righteous convictions. The victorious Allies were, at the time, all-powerful, at least against external enemies. They nevertheless had to confront serious internal difficulties and solve many riddles to which they had no answers.

In a decade, the contingent of young men reaching military service age in Germany would be double that of France.

Russia, devastated and shaken by convulsions, was taking on a new and terrifying form.

The hasty dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had left a chaotic void. A void into which strode a madman of ferocious genius, Corporal Hitler.

While three or four powerful governments, acting in concert, had asked their peoples for the most frightful sacrifices, while these peoples had freely consented for the common cause and the long-desired goals had been achieved, it would have seemed reasonable to maintain this concerted union to preserve the essential fruits of victory.

Yet with the malice of the wicked reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous, the victors lived from hand to mouth, from one election to the next, until the ultimate safeguard of lasting peace was abandoned. The crimes of the vanquished caught up, not their excuses, but their origin and explanation in the follies of the victors.

Thus spoke Winston Churchill. We might dare say this was our starting scenario!