The production Poucet, directed by Victor Pestanes and performed by the Collectif Plato, exemplifies this trend by mapping the narrative of Charles Perrault’s Le Petit Poucet onto the grim realities of 1990s Franco-Belgian criminal cases, including the crimes of Marc Dutroux and Michel Nihoul.
The Evolution of Immersive Documentary Theater
In Poucet, the lead role is recruited from the public on the day of the performance. According to Siloé Lemaitre’s reporting, this performer, who has no formal acting background, is given a prop knife and the agency to choose which characters to “kill” on stage.
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Immersive theater often uses “change-on-sight” staging, where costumes and lights are swapped in full view of the audience. This technique, used by the Collectif Plato, maintains a frantic, hypnotic pace that prevents the audience from detaching from the subject matter.
Mapping True Crime onto Cultural Archetypes
By comparing figures like Michel Nihoul to the “ogre” of the Perrault tale, productions like Poucet attempt to move beyond voyeurism. The play is structured in five acts, mirroring the pacing of a true-crime television series. Rather than romanticizing the violence, the production relies on the “veracity of facts,” presenting the history of the 1990s crime wave without relying on pathos.
By stripping away the distance provided by traditional staging, the production forces a confrontation with the “cruelty of reality,” suggesting that the lessons of the past are often more harrowing than the fables used to mask them.
Why Documentary Theater Trends Toward Extreme Realism
When directors like Pestanes integrate actual judicial history—such as the Omar Raddad case—into a performance, they turn the theater space into a site of collective memory.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core premise of the play Poucet?
The play reimagines Charles Perrault’s Le Petit Poucet as a “thriller documentary” that explores major Franco-Belgian criminal cases from the 1990s, such as the Marc Dutroux affair.
How does audience participation impact the performance?
The lead actor is recruited from the public on the day of the show. With a prop knife as their only tool, their choices dictate the direction of the play, making every performance unique.
Is the violence in this production intended to be sensational?
According to reports on the production, the violence is not romanticized or voyeuristic. It is presented as a documentation of historical reality to serve the purpose of collective memory.
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