Rire à tout prix, rire du malheur? Quelques remarques sur la possibilité d’un art théâtral comique sur Auschwitz, après Auschwitz

Is it possible to write a comedy play about Auschwitz? Laugh at all costs, or not? And if so, where is the possible limit beyond which comedy would simply become ethically illegitimate? Working essen­tially in a theoretical and comparative context, the aim of our stu­dy will be to identify at least some of the main guidelines for envi­saging the possibility of a theatrical comedy about the Holocaust. Of course, it is not a question of finding unique criteria. Nevertheless, by introducing certain reflexions by Adorno, Bergson, Dürrenmatt and Pirandello, we shall try to show that the ideal framework for thinking the comedy about Auschwitz is that of stylistic contamina­tion. In other words, the idea is to refuse pure comedy, comedy that provokes naive and cathartic laughter, because that would be equi­valent to trivialising the horror. On the contrary, a privileged comedy is a comedy that is already tinged with melancholy, a comedy that is ironic in relation to itself. In one word: the way of humour.