La guerre n'a pas de visage de femme

Some scenes contain descriptions of physical and sexual violence

Set tour on Friday, March 26 at 6:15 p.m. Free with reservation through La Criée

Spring 1975, in a Soviet communal apartment, women are brought together by a journalist to tell the story of their war. A voice is given to those whom History long relegated to the shadows. The conversation comes to life in this adaptation of Svetlana Alexievitch’s work, directed by Julie Deliquet.

How do you tell the story of the war you volunteered for? In 1941, the Nazi invasion led more than 800,000 young Soviet women to enlist in the Great Patriotic War. Most of them were still high-school students; they became stretcher-bearers, fighter pilots, surgeons and snipers... And yet, who remembers them? Taking the form of an investigation and unfolding through a polyphony of intimate testimonies, the play creates a collective memory made of fragments of lives, fear, exhaustion and bravery. War is no longer a succession of dates, but a sum of human experiences.

Forgotten by official discourse and sometimes silenced upon their return, these women never saw their courage recognized in proportion to their sacrifice. The ten actresses bring their stories to the stage, make their voices resonate and wrest their memory from oblivion. They open a precious space for transmission and reflection that may help shed light on democratic perspectives today and tomorrow.