Le « théâtre documenté » de la compagnie Babel : interroger le réel au prisme de ses représentations

The notion of ‘documented’ theatre, increasingly used by some artists, is a category with ill-defined contours. Its porous boundaries between fiction and document contribute to the difficulty of its definition. This article provides with reflections on the way in which it deals with reality, based on the creations of Babel Company. The co-directors, Élise Chatauret and Thomas Pondevie, refer to their creations, based on field surveys and recorded interviews, as ‘documented theatre’. Their approach is not opposed to reality but sheds new light on the question of the relationship between theatre and reality. By revealing how the directing manipulates the document, but also the theatrical nature of the document itself, the productions of the company show that reality cannot be grasped outside the field of our representations. If the experience of reality can occur, it is during the time when actors and spectators question together these representations and imagine new ones.