Les Marchands d'Étoiles: the deeply moving play at Le Splendid

Les Marchands d'Étoiles (Star Merchants) finally lands in the French capital after a highly successful run at the Festival d'Avignon 2023. Considered a play that should be of public interest by the newspaper La Provence, the play, set during the Second World War, has already won numerous awards. Playing at Le Splendid until January 5, 2025, Les Marchands d'Étoiles looks set to be a deeply moving play not to be missed.

The viewer is plunged into June 1942, during the Second World War, in a fabric workshop in Paris. In the midst of the Occupation, the Martineau family, neither collaborators nor resistance fighters, try to carry on with their normal lives. They've even taken over the Jewish star business, printing yellow stars for the whole of Europe - a golden opportunity in which they take great pride. But one of her employees is Jewish and, one evening, everything changes when a collaborator arrives... Les Marchands d'étoiles features six actors in a fine, moving play.

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The author, Anthony Michineau, was awarded the Best Author prize at the Festival d'Avignon 2023, and his director, Julien Alluguette, the Best Director prize at the Festival d'Avignon 2024. Anthony Michineau, a French playwright who writes for young and old alike, has won acclaim for the subtlety of his texts, combining reflection on human feelings with touches of humor and melancholy. Les Marchands d'Étoiles, a disarming play dealing with facts from the Second World War, has been a real success since its first performance and is now waiting for you at Le Splendid until January 5, 2025.

Our review:

A must-see play, with or without the family.Anthony Michineau 's play tackles subjects that have long enraged, without taboo: the Occupation, the collabos, the "neutrals", the anti-Semitism of the French. Many of the sentences are disturbing, to the point of making us uncomfortable, which is why it's essential for teenagers and adults alike to discover the play. Anthony Michineau keeps us laughing, too, with some clever jokes that take the pressure off the play.

The text is sublimated by a cast of six excellent actors! It's hard not to feel for the father of the family(Guillaume Bouchède), who has a warm southern accent, is a doting father and not at all anti-Semitic, but not very resistant either. Played to perfection, the play transports us into the daily life of a French family living under German occupation in 1942. Marcel, played by Nicolas Martinez, is almost unbearable to watch and listen to, and his eyes exude a certain disturbing madness. A total immersion thanks to a remarkable text and actors. We advise you to go and see the play as soon as possible.