This afternoon we saw Un amour de Blum, by Gérard Savoisien, at Théâtre du Chêne Noir. Two actors tell (a dramatization of) the real-life story of Léon Blum, a former President of the French Council, and Jeanne Levylier, a long-time admirer of Blum who is 20 years his junior. Both are Jewish, he a socialist politician and she a cosseted Parisian bourgeoise. It is 1940, and we find Blum held as a political prisoner by the Vichy government. Jeanne arranges to visit him frequently, and soon expresses her love for him, leading to an unlikely amorous affair. She follows him from prison to prison, somehow free while he is jailed. Eventually, she makes the decision to join him in his imprisonment in Himler’s hunting pavillion just outside the concentration camp at Buchenwald. The two manage to survive and are liberated by the Americans in 1945.
The plays themes are about finding love in times of great hardship, transmuting fear into courage, and also living life with dignity to the end. The performance was very well acted, but the text is a bit repetitive. I think I understood most of the language, will double check that when I read the text which I purchased after the show. Overall enjoyable, but not hors du commun.
