Theatre in the Open Air

We were very dismayed this spring when we heard that the theatre company Studio Théâtre d’Asnières, who do all the performances at the Rendez-vous de Cormatin theatre festival during the summer, had gone into liquidation. That meant that the festival was cancelled. Many of us in town have a lot of work to do, to get the whole thing running smoothly during the summer and so the cancellation left a real hole in our little community. We are hoping that the theatre company can get over their financial difficulties (this is not the first time this has happened) and get back on their feet in time for next year. In any case all the members of the association who had paid their dues, were offered the chance to go to a little lunch time performance given by the company’s remaining actors.

We signed up for the play which was last Sunday, but there were so many people who wanted to go, they organised a second showing on the Monday. We duly went to the Plan d’Eau (the local fishing pond) where there is a covered area suitable for sitting. We arrived at 12.30 (after my bike had a puncture – good job I am excessively on-time for everything, at least I was still on time even after having to walk the last kilometre or so). After an aperitif of white wine and little biscuits, the theatre production started.

The performance was originally designed for the gardens around the Château de Rambouillet but it worked very well in Cormatin’s park too. The first part was under a beautiful, old weeping willow, the next on the bridge over to the island, then on to the island itself and then we followed the “faires” back to the last piece on the grass in the shade of a spreading chestnut tree.

The performances were quite exquisite, the actors to my mind performed much better than I had seen them perform on stage, perhaps it was the close intimacy of the pieces that gave them their charm. No props except some trees and a bench, really well done. I really hope it works out for them and I hope that we can have our festival back next year, Cormatin is definitely a lot quieter without it.

After all that culture, we started our pre-packed, picnic lunch not much before 2 o’clock and the dessert of a really yummy fruit tart from Delices de Cormatin was finally served around 3 o’clock. After lunch the two chiefs of the Studio Théâtre d’Asnières, had chosen some readings for us and they presented those - very entertaining. After leaving my bike with a friend to be collected the next day, we finally made it home not far short of 6 o’clock. An excellent day out.

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