Jean Genet Fifteen Years Later: An Interview with Roger Blin (Paris, 14 October 1980)

Jean Genet Fifteen Years Later: An Interview with Roger Blin (Paris, 14 October 1980) conducted and translated by JEANNETTE LAILLOU SAVONA' 1.L.S. When and how did you first meet Genet? R.B. I met him personally in the fifties and possibly even earlier. I think I saw him for the first time on the banks of the Seine near a bookstall where he would sell the books he had more or less stolen. I seem to remember talking to him then. It is a sort of fleeting image in my mind, so I cannot tell you precisely when this first meeting took place. Later on I met him as one does in the St. Germain des Pres group; we had some friends in common, and of course I had been interested in his case when he was about to be jailed for life. He had been condemned to a life sentence because at that time French law would send to Cayenne people who had had several indictments, however slight, and were considered beyond rehabilitation. Fortunately there was a general outcry, however: many testified in his favour and he was granted a presidential pardon by Vincent Auriol. All the Surrealists supported him except Aragon. J.L.S. And how did you discover his theatre? R.B . I read The Maids before it was first performed, as I was a friend ofGene!'s first publisher, Marc Barbezat, of L'Arbalete. Barbezat's wife, Olga, was an actress and had been one of my fellow students in Dullin's acting course. Barbezat was on very friendly terms with Genet, whom he had visited in prison. They quarrelled later on; and then Genet's second pUblisher, Gallimard (which is like a crucible), collected all the works a small publisher could not afford to carry on, since Genet's first books had come out either in lUXUry editions or with a limited circulation. My first collaboration with Genet was on The Blacks. I had already seen both Jouvet's and Balachova's productions of The Maids as well as Deathwatch put on by Jean Marchat's company. J.L.S. Did you not also play in Peter Brook's production of The Balcony? R.B. Yes, I did. I played the part of the Envoy. I had first been cast as the Bishop, but Brook decided to choose shorter men for the Official Figures so that they could be raised by cothurni. The Balcony was supposed to be produced at I: the Theatre Antoine before The Blacks. In those days Arletty, who knew Genet a little, would have liked to play the part of Irma, but Genet insisted that it be played by a tragedienne. The Theatre Antoine was then managed by a former actress, Simone Berriau, who had quite a bit ofmoney at her disposal. She was very excited about the idea of Peter Brook, whose mises en scene had been shown in English at the Theatre des Nations and who was beginning to be well-known - and also about Marie Bell, cast as Irma. Before the play was produced, Simone Berriau consulted the prefect of police, who was one of her friends; she also consulted her confessor; and they both persuaded her to cancel the play. She was scared, ofwhat I do not know, and the production had to wait for two more years. In the meantime I directed The Blacks in 1959. I did not play in The Balcony until 1960, and then I got along well with Brook, Marie Bell and the others. Incidentally, the Paris production of The Balcony was made possible only by the success of The Blacks. The manageress of the Theatre du Gymnase had come to see The Blacks and she then decided to have The Balcony produced, with Marie Bell financing the show. Brook's mise en scene included a set which he had designed himself and which used a revolving stage for the successive first scenes. Although Genet never saw the performance, he was opposed to this design. He would have liked the sets to succeed and fit into one another in the wings, which is a difficult proposition and may still be...