Boules and Giraudoux

Boules and Giraudoux
Three days of glorious weather have meant three afternoons of boules and my form seems to be returning; seven wins in nine matches is not so bad. More importantly, my “feel” of the boules and the piste seems to be better; the force is with me. Just as important have been the afternoons in shirt sleeves and sunshine with pleasant company.

The weather has also meant some more gardening and the purchase and planting of a vine to go at the back, to supplement the one at the front. With luck it will grow along a wire fence at the side of my back garden. I also have a rambling rose and a clematis going along the same fence so, “inshallah”, it should look good and be productive a couple of years from now.

Meanwhile, Daniel has been beavering away at the script for “La Partie de Boules n'aura pas lieu.” It now runs to nearly 20 pages and he has one final scene to write (the 13th, as in 13 points to win a boules game). He should have it finished by the weekend and then it will be time to revise, if necessary, and decide what can be done with it. I think the script is very good. Daniel was a Professor of French literature, specialising in drama and film, and so has a good grasp of how to write a script. I love the way he has managed to marry the eternal elements of classical Greek theatre, some of the characters of Giraudoux's play, and his own personal reflections on man/wife relationships (in the context of the Helen of Troy story) into a mundane game of boules. He has managed this with both the Greek originals and the local boules-playing characters being recognisable. That's quite a feat.

The problem is what to do with the script when it is finished. At a rough estimate, the play would run to 40-50 minutes, which would probably be too long for a skit to be staged at one of the village festivals. Daniel suggested an English translation, which would be possible (although the poetry would be difficult), but that would remove the local character element and necessarily assume an English familiarity with boules. I think that, ideally, it would be played at boules pistes around the area (I'm sure our local characters have their counterparts in local villages) but have no idea how to arrange that. I think, anyway, we should publish the result and see what happens. Maybe I'll do that as an adjunct to this blog.