Director of National Theater of Hill refuses to deprogrammer Bertrand Cantat

Sentenced for the murder of his companion Marie Trintignant In 2003, Mr. Cantat has to compose the music of the next show of Wajdi Mouawad.

Le Monde

The Director of the Theater of the Hill, Wajdi Mouawad, refused, Tuesday, October 19, of deprogrammer Bertrand Cantat, convicted for the murder of his companion Marie Trintignant in 2003. Mr. Cantat must compose the music of the next show M. Mouawad.

In a statement, the latter also announced his refusal to deprogram Jean-Pierre Baro, a director who had been targeted by a complaint for rape classified without a continuation, and who staged a room for the hill, a of six national theaters in France.

The programming of the two artists has aroused the emotion among the #metootheater movement, which has been growing in a few weeks.

While affirming his “unreserved” adherence to “fighting for equality between women and men and that against violence and sexual harassment,” Mr. Mouawad said to refuse to “substitute for justice”. “If a person scheduled or invited to the theater is engaged in judicial proceedings, I will encourage him to withdraw from the programming until the work of justice has been completed. To date, no one is in this situation in the programming of the theater of the hill, “he said.

Sentenced to eight years in prison

“I do not see how I should change anything, or ask whoever to withdraw,” said the director, who commissioned Mr. Cantat, former singer of the Black group desire, the music of his next show, mother. “I only seek to convince anyone, and if the Minister of Culture or the President of the Republic, who appointed me, consider that my positions are contrary to the Republican principles, that one or the other makes me Knowing and I will leave the direction of the theater on the field, “he added.

m. Mouawad also affirms his refusal to participate in a “unilateral” movement which “does not suffer from nuance” and who “punishes beyond justice and law”.

Interview Monday on France Inter, the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, said she had “not to intervene in the management of the hill”, but that she “regretted” that Bertrand Cantat was Guest. M me Bachelot had argued “the freedom of creation” and stressed that Mr. Mouawad could not “not be accused of the slightest convenience with regard to the fight against sexual and sexist violence” .

The actress Marie Trintignant succumbed to the blows of Bertrand Cantat in 2003 in Vilnius. He had been sentenced to eight years in prison. He made four, including one in Lithuania, before receiving a parole in 2007. His judicial review ended in 2011.

/Media reports.