The Water Girl

Author Antoine Herniotte and director Laurent Brethome drew their inspiration for this fantasy play from the Grimm brothers' L'Ondine de l'étang. La Fille de l'eau begins in the darkness of a world that is collapsing: birds no longer fly, trees no longer grow, black water has replaced pure stream water, toxic fog the morning dew. Hope is gone when Léa, born to greedy parents with dried-up hearts, encounters chimeras, figures of nature, who call out to her for help. Her parents can't stop her from growing up, becoming detached and yearning for a world other than their own. In a highly pictorial setting, enveloped in the sounds of nature and punctuated by songs, this initiatory fable about metamorphosis takes the audience as witness. What is our greatest asset? Are we outside nature, and how can we strengthen our ties with it rather than enslaving it? What meaning can we give to our lives?