Jean-Luc Lagarce Nous, les héros direction Philippe Sireuil The characters The Mother. She also plays on stage the role of the father's wife. She calculates the takings after each performance. She tries to save what can still be saved of her family and of her theatre company. She knows that the marriage which is being prepared is not a good marriage. The Paternal Grandfather. Before, he was the leader of the company and his father before him. He plays aristocratic fathers and waits for death. He would like to give up hotels and return home but he no longer even remembers where he came from. Has he not always lived this way since he was a child? The Elder Daughter, Joséphine. She will marry Raban this evening and her father wants to imagine her at any cost in the roles played by her mother when she was younger. She loves the boy but she is aware that he is not marrying her only for her talent and her beauty. Here again, she plays a secondary role. The Son, Karl. He wants to leave. He will quit the company, he will run away to America, he will go and get drunk in Paris, anywhere, wear new suits, cease to play the bearers of tragedy and drink champagne. They can do what they want but as soon as the engagement is settled, he will give up his part. His father has so little confidence in him, when one thinks about it, that he prefers to entrust the takings to Raban, rather than to him. The Younger Daughter, Eduardowa. She is the youngest, the most secretive, the most silent. She dreams, no-one knows. She is forgotten from time to time, she plays small boys, children, she does a quick turn around the dance floor and then she is left in the wings without being bothered too much. She speaks little, she watches them. She dances to a sad song. Raban. He plays the heroes, the noble knights. He will marry Joséphine, he will take up this little theatre business, later he will play, undoubtedly, the roles which the father plays. He adapts. He arrived there one day, he joined them and he will inherit the troupe as one inherits a boutique. He adapts, yes, but he still dreams, all the same, with his cynical air of having seen everything, he still dreams of fabulous adventures, of stealing the beautiful Madame Tschissik from her husband, of fleeing with her, leaving behind his little destiny, and reaching the capitals and their glories. Max. He is the best friend of Raban. They arrived together in the troupe and together, they stayed there. He watches, he makes fun, he never seems to believe in anything, never gets involved in any story, any battle. He does his work. He is free, he could leave if he wanted to, he is a supplementary actor, that is what he says, but all this liberty, this absence of family, this loneliness from town to town, without ever knowing where to come back to, this freedom of choice, late in the night, makes him even funnier but also more desperate. Madame Tschissik. Because the mother has become too old for those roles and because Joséphine would not know how to play them yet - would she ever be able to one day? - Madame Tschissik was engaged, queen, tragedienne and leading lady. An inserted patch, a good actress and an unbearable person. She often dreams of roles that she doesn't know and often makes life impossible for everybody, the other members of the troupe, the local welcome committee and sometimes even the uncultured public. Raban secretly loves her, she knows this. Her pet hates are the daughters of the house. She is much forgiven, her capriciousness is tolerated for fear that she leaves. Monsieur Tschissik. The husband. Actor without talent, he is the husband of his wife and one could not be engaged without the other. He plays bit parts, minor figures, a few traitors and bank clerks. To hear him speak, he has known glory and success on all the stages of old Europe. He has a repertoire of stories that he alone believes to be funny. Whatever his wife says, he repeats, but in any case, he is of exactly the same opinion as the last person who spoke. His vulgarity and his idleness are tolerated for fear that his wife leaves. Mademoiselle (the manager). She is silent, nothing is known of her. She helps them dress, change costumes, but also, after having put the costumes in the trunks, she sets the table, she does the cooking, she does the washing and she is often the only one to calm down the children's quarrels, to protect Eduardowa from the mockeries of the others, to reassure Joséphine about the love of boys. She is biding her time, she rehearses in silence, she knows secret routines, she could replace anybody at a moment's notice, that is what she imagines. © 2001 "Théâtre-contemporain.net". Tous droits réservés.