Avignon Festival : Tiphaine Raffier stages death at home

“Stop Looking at Me Like That”

A house awaits us, its windows reflecting our own image back at us. The opening tableau is striking: from the outset, it confronts us with our own existence, here and now. The lights come up to reveal a woman (Emma Bolcato) manipulating the windows and a painting. For now, there is only sound—no dialogue. And as the performance unfolds, it becomes clear that sound, rather than music, is one of the play’s central characters. The story quickly takes shape. Two brothers and two sisters gather around Laure, one of the sisters, who is dying of cancer. She has perfectly planned her departure for August 13 at 11 a.m., but illness does not obey our wishes; more often than not, it progresses faster than our intentions.

“Do You Want to Be Trapped in This Agony?”

Soren (Thomas Gonzalez), Simon (Adrien Rouyard), and Susanne (Catherine Mestoussis) care tenderly for Laure (Édith Mérieau), whom we first see only from behind. Above the house, a video projection of its roof, reminiscent of the work of Julien Gosselin, with whom Raffier previously collaborated, allows the audience to focus on tiny details. Here, it is the nape of Laure’s neck, tense and rigid. The reason soon becomes clear: the youngest brother does not yet know that Laure has chosen assisted dying. With remarkable precision, almost to the point of documentary realism, the play immerses us in the intimate reality of terminal illness, at the moment when everything begins to spiral. Laure can no longer eat; she chokes, panic erupts, and each member of the family reacts instinctively, from the depths of their emotions.

“I’m Trying to Stay Clear-Headed”

The ensemble delivers outstanding performances. Laure is astonishingly convincing as a dying woman, while her three siblings brilliantly convey the intertwined emotions of love, grief, and panic. Strong supporting characters enrich the story as well: Sharon, Laure’s partner (Teddy Chawa), and a compassionate nurse (Paula Luna). Raffier also creates a series of memorable stage images, including a house that literally splits in two under the weight of approaching death.

“The Idealization of Dying at Home Can Be a Trap”

The play revisits one of the great taboos of contemporary Western societies. Death has become a private affair, managed collectively in nursing homes far from city centers. We are a long way from the medieval ad sanctum, when the dead rested inside churches. Ironically, the production loses momentum precisely when Raffier struggles to bring it to a close. Several times the audience feels ready to applaud, particularly after Laure’s magnificent monologue, in which she recounts her life while she is still alive.

Despite an obvious pacing issue, L’hors-présence remains an impressive piece of theatre, offering its cast substantial emotional range within a set that may be somewhat conventional but is undeniably effective.

L’hors-présence, Tiphaine Raffier’s latest play, confronts audiences with the profound ethical questions surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide through the story of a terminal cancer patient who has lost the capacity to make informed decisions.

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