"Les Journées nationales" suivi de "Quand les huissiers se saisissent de la scène : l'absurde bureaucratique dans le théâtre contemporain"
"La Journée nationale du pardon", "La Journée nationale de la lutte contre l’embonpoint" and "La Journée nationale de la frivolité", the three short plays collected in "Les Journées nationales", all spring from the same, seemingly eccentric idea : the obligation to celebrate any social aspect as long as it is dictated by a majority. By "legalizing" an implicitly imposed moral conduct, "Les Journées nationales", short social satires laden with black humour, dissect and analyze social norms and generally acknowledged values in order to highlight their incoherencies.  "Quand les huissiers se saisissent de la scène : l’absurde bureaucratique dans le théâtre contemporain" is an essay that analyzes the processes and also points out the stakes at work in the theatre of the "bureaucratic absurd". The "bureaucratic absurd" is a phrase used to designate plays that, through nonsense, a playful and creative use of bureaucratic jargon and through the importance given to the characters’ and locations’ social connotations, express the terror felt by the playwrights towards the institutionalization of human relationships. Using four plays (Arthur Adamov’s "Le Professeur Taranne", Michel Vinaver’s "Les Travaux et les Jours", Lydie Salvayre’s "Quelques conseils utiles aux élèves huissiers" and Normand Chaurette’s "États financiers"), theoretical works on the theatre of the absurd (Esslin, Hubert), sociocriticism (Duchet) and sociology (Crozier and Friedberg, Le Breton), we will show that, through the expression of a constant tension between the intimate and the professional, the bureaucratic absurd offers a glimpse of the individual’s power and of the persistence of  personal responsibility within social organizations.
Théâtre Absurde Bureaucratie Theatre Absurd Bureaucracy Comic Actor System Responsibility Sociology