Rehearsal of "Rita ou le mari battu" open to the public

The company "Le Roy s'Amuse" will be occupying the Espace Culturel du Brionnais for a fortnight to begin work on their new show "Rita ou le mari battu".

During this period, the artistic team will be reaching out to different audiences, offering various workshops.
A rehearsal open to the public will take place on Saturday 18 January at 3pm.

"Rita ou le mari battu" premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 7 May 1860. It is a farce written in French about Rita, the owner of a small inn that she runs with her husband Peppe. Rita was once married to a certain Gasparo, who had disappeared at sea a few years earlier. Gasparo was a bad man who beat Rita. When she remarried, for fear of being beaten again, she decided to strike first. So she beat Peppe. One day Gasparo reappears, and has in fact rebuilt his life in Canada and wants a divorce... Peppe discovers that his marriage is null and void because Gasparo isn't dead... So goes our sad story of who should stay with Rita, her first husband who terrorises her or her second husband whom she terrorises!

This is a serious fable that seems sadly relevant today, despite being written over a century and a half ago. It's a fable about the transmission of violence, and where does love fit in when the blows are raining down?