Description
The Scènes d'Histoire Company presents a play written by a lawyer at the Paris Bar, directed by Jacques Connort, former director of the Comédie-Française Studio, and performed for the first time in the Oise region. Born in Vaucouleurs in 1743 into a very modest family, Jeanne Vaubernier became the mistress of King Louis XV in 1769 and remained so, despite the jealousies and hatreds of the court, until his death five years later. More than twenty years later, in the midst of the Reign of Terror, she was accused of treason and brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal, where she faced the wrath of the public prosecutor, Fouquier-Tinville. Sentenced to death and guillotined on December 8, 1793, she famously cried out on the scaffold, imploring the executioner to grant her "just one more moment." The play revisits the trial two centuries later through the quest of four contemporary lawyers who set out to uncover the truth about this woman and wonder if it would have been possible to "Save Madame du Barry." The text reveals the true face of the last royal mistress and the sensitive woman hidden behind the unscrupulous courtesan portrayed in history books. It also prompts reflection on the possibility of impartially administering justice when it clashes with the winds of history, which lead to the execution of symbols of the past rather than the guilty. Guided tours of the estate are offered at 6:45 pm and 10 pm.
