Martin Crimp's 'Des hommes endormis' staged at Théâtre de l'Athénée Louis-Jouvet

Ludovic Lagarde directs Martin Crimp's play 'Des hommes endormis' at Théâtre de l'Athénée Louis-Jouvet in Paris. The play dissects the emotional drift of two couples from different generations with acidic humor and poetic lucidity. Christèle Tual and Laurent Poitrenaux play Julia and Paul, successful fifty-somethings whose marriage has lost its spark. Hortense Girard and Guillaume Costanza portray Josefine and Tilman, a younger couple full of vitality and desire. The story is set in Hamburg at two in the morning, where Julia and Paul's empty fridge symbolizes their barren relationship. Julia confronts Paul about his lack of interest, while the younger couple's uninhibited behavior creates a mirror effect. Lagarde's direction follows the abrupt shifts in tone and dialogue that Crimp uses to plunge the play into strangeness. The production runs at the Théâtre de l'Athénée Louis-Jouvet, with photography by Marie Gioanni.