0:00:00.324,0:00:03.177
[Presenter] As festival season arrives, let's get concrete and move to Avignon.

0:00:03.177,0:00:05.693
We have an interview this evening with actrice Emmanuelle Laborit.

0:00:05.693,0:00:10.964
In 1993, she received the Molière for best theatre newcomer, you may remember,

0:00:10.964,0:00:13.774
for her extraordinary performance in "Les enfants du silence" [adapted from "Children of a Lesser God"]

0:00:13.774,0:00:16.898
Today, she is here to talk about another very ambitious project:

0:00:16.898,0:00:21.286
let hearing people applaud a work entirely interpreted in sign language.

0:00:21.286,0:00:25.024
A report by our special envoys Dominique Poncet and Marc Félix.

0:00:27.119,0:00:29.858
[Interpreter] Many foreigners come to the Avignon festival

0:00:29.858,0:00:32.878
and actually, we feel a bit like a foreign actors' company.

0:00:32.878,0:00:36.232
We want to talk about our culture in this way, to show it.

0:00:37.216,0:00:39.552
And it's true, it's a bit of a mad gamble.

0:00:39.552,0:00:41.940
Its a bit mad because Thierry was completely committed to creating this piece

0:00:41.940,0:00:44.761
in French Sign Language: it's not easy.

0:00:45.998,0:00:49.184
[Journalist] with other deaf-mute actors like herself,

0:00:49.184,0:00:52.688
Emmanuelle Laborit came to Avignon to take up a challenge:

0:00:53.225,0:00:58.353
let people listen to Sophocles' Antigone without the support of speech.

0:00:59.222,0:01:00.563
Why this bet?

0:01:00.563,0:01:02.940
To free her deaf actor colleagues from the roles

0:01:02.940,0:01:05.688
they are usually typecast in.

0:01:06.472,0:01:13.316
To also show the extraordinary richness of deaf sensitivity

0:01:13.316,0:01:25.222
[Music][br]("Antigone, after Sophocles)

0:01:25.222,0:01:31.471
[Music]

0:01:31.471,0:01:33.518
[Interpreter] As for me, my work is fighting.

0:01:33.518,0:01:35.792
I can therefore play various roles.

0:01:35.792,0:01:38.700
If a director wants to work with me, we can adapt anything,

0:01:38.700,0:01:41.909
We can do anything together. Anything is possible truly.

0:01:41.909,0:01:49.591
[music]

0:01:49.591,0:01:53.297
It's above all, a theatrical role: you use all the space

0:01:53.297,0:01:55.166
Because you need to know how to use the space

0:01:55.166,0:01:57.204
in ways that an actor really doesn't know how to.

0:01:57.204,0:02:01.403
You must learn to use facial expressions - these can be very subtile.

0:02:01.403,0:02:07.560
[music]

0:02:07.560,0:02:08.644
It took me a little while to adapt:

0:02:08.644,0:02:11.156
at the beginning I found it a little difficult - a little bit...

0:02:11.156,0:02:13.815
But now, it's all good, you know? I've got in the swing of things

0:02:13.815,0:02:17.286
And I've got completely used to living here; I could live in Avignon,