Critiques de Harvey, pièce vue au théâtre du Rond-Point avec la classe de 2-5

 

 Critiques de Harvey, pièce de Mary Chase, détentrice du très prestigieux prix Pulitzer. 

Jacques Gamblin, le personnage titre a reçu pour cette pièce le Molière du meilleur comédien dans un spectacle de théâtre public. 

 

• Critique de Nahoum Muanasaka, Elias Theys-Jordis, François Mailly

On the twenty-third of September, we went to the « Théâtre du Rond-Point » to see a representation of Harvey, a play from Broadway written by Mary Chase in 1944.

The plot is about a forty-year-old man named Elwood. Everyone thinks he is mad because he is sure to have a friend called Harvey and he tries to introduce him to his family and friends. The first problem is that Harvey seems to be an imaginary friend, the second one is that he is a one meter ninety-tall white rabbit.
So, during the play, his sister and his niece will put Elwood into a psychiatric hospital in which they hope doctors will find a treatment to cure him.

On stage the main characters of Harvey are Elwood and Vita:
Elwood is a very charming man and he is a dreamer, he is really nice with all the people, all the time. He is played by Jacques Gamblin, a great French actor. We think he corresponds well to the role.
Vita, Elwood’s sister, is quite stressful and she is yelling all the time. However, she loves her brother and she worries about him.
All the other characters, such as the doctors or the secretary were amusing. We really enjoyed the cast.

The play takes place in two different backgrounds: a typical American rich house and the hall of a psychiatric hospital. We appreciate those backgrounds because it was fun seeing them being changed by men in the middle of the play.  

As you can read, we enjoyed the staging. Also, because Laurent Pelly, the stage director, chose realistic props and costumes. We found it really relevant, in fact it helped us to be focused on the story because our mind wasn’t distracted by some external elements.

Unfortunately, on the twenty third of September, one of us was sick, so he missed the representation of Harvey. Before that day, he only knew that the play was about a man who had an imaginary rabbit as a friend. He expected the play to be funny and that to represent Harvey, that there was to be an actor in a white bunny costume. In fact, if he had come to the performance, he would have noticed his mistake. In the play, Harvey isn’t represented because the stage director wanted to put spectators in the same situation as his family. So, we didn't see Harvey but obviously Elwood was seeing him and it really worked!
Also, he was quite sure that the other characters didn’t consider Elwood as a normal man. So, maybe he should have been brought to the doctor to discover what was going wrong in his head. Here, he was right because that’s what Elwood’s family does.
Finally, he wondered if the actors would perform the play as it had been written and in the same situations to show to the audience the differences between the 1940s and our time. Or if on the contrary they had changed the situations of the play a little to make it correspond to the year 2022? In fact, it could be a good idea but, in the play, it was not necessary, the situation and the story are written to correspond to our time as well as Mary Chase’s era. There was therefore no intention to show a difference in temporality or a desire to modernize the play. 

Finally, we want to say that we were particularly captivated by the last scene which brings together all the characters of Harvey. It’s decided not to do Elwood’s treatment because yes, Elwood is special but everyone loves him like that. Finally, Elwood gave us a moral lesson:
We don’t need to change people, we need to accept them.
Like we said, we found this scene very important because it makes a transition between the comedy and the social criticism. In the 1940s, Mary Chase wanted to make people think about the acceptance of differences, it really works because even in 2022 her message is relevant.

That's why, for all these characteristics, we can say that we really enjoyed Harvey!

• Critique par Julien Tan, Natacha Sucevic, Armel Pain :

Lately, we went to the “Théâtre du Rond-Point” to see Harvey, a comedy written by Mary Chase (an American writer) in 1944. The play was staged by Laurent Pelly. The story begins after the death of Elwood and Vita’s mother who decided to leave all her possessions to Elwood, including her house.

Vita and her daughter Clementine moved in with Elwood, right after the death of their mother. The only issue being Elwood embarrasses his family at every reception they hold by introducing his best friend Harvey, a white 1.90-meter-tall invisible rabbit. To solve this problem, his sister tries to intern him in an asylum.

The background was filled with scribbles in order to symbolize Elwood’s naive and childish representation of the world. The scenery was composed of pieces furniture which were moved by white-dressed comedians between the scenes. Laurent Pelly paid a particular attention to the sound effects; for example, whenever Elwood was entering the stage, a specific music was played, probably to represent Harvey’s presence.

We would personally recommend this play to those who haven’t seen it. The comedians were acting admirably and it was very well staged. This play was very fun, and interesting because of the way the characters were seeing psychological diseases. It was both a very good comedy and a touching play.

 

• Critique de Corrélia, Elaine, et Tyeba

Harvey is a comedy written by Mary Chase in 1944. The original version of this play was written in English, but the one we watched was the French version, translated by Agathe Mélinand. The performance we saw was directed by Laurent Pelly. The main roles were played by Jacques Gamblin (as Elwood), Christine Brücher (as Veta), and Pierre Aussedat (as Dr.Chumley), Thomas Condemine (as Dr.Sanderson) and Agathe L’Huillier (as Myrtle).

This play tells the story of Elwood P. Dowd and his best friend Harvey.

In Elwood’s house, it’s the panic. Veta Louise Simmons, and her daughter, Myrtle (Clémentine in the French version) are fed up with Elwood, Veta’s brother. Yet he is the perfect figure of the gentleman. They can’t stand him anymore. Why is that? But there is a somehow disturbing problem. Elwood has a best friend, Harvey, a pooka, that is, according to his words, a six-foot-tall, giant and above all invisible rabbit. If that were all it was… To make matters worse, he began introducing his dear friend around the neighborhood, which embarrassed Veta and Myrtle. He treats Harvey as if he were a member of his own family, he sets the table for him, waits for him before dinner, etc… As you might have guessed, nobody else except Elwood could see that certain rabbit, because he’s simply nonexistent. As a matter of fact, Elwood is mentally ill. So, Veta finally decides to commit him to a psychiatric hospital. She explains the situation to Doctor Sanderson, who won’t give her the benefit of the doubt. He thinks that the real patient is Veta herself, and decides thereafter to lock her up with the help of Doctor Chumley and his assistant. Then, they release Elwood from the hospital… That’s the beginning of a lot of misunderstandings… Will they figure out that they were totally wrong? What will happen to Elwood, Veta, and the legendary Harvey?

The staging was really fascinating, it was close to the world of mental illness, strange but nonetheless charming. The props were moving between each Act, which brings the feeling that the space hasn’t got a defined form. As for the music, it was very mystical and it caught our attention, but we think it was maybe a bit too loud. The light was blinding, and it was similar to those found in hospitals.

The play makes us think about how everything in our lives has to be done with logic. Maybe this is the barrier that separates us from happiness and freedom. The fact that Veta and Clémentine were ashamed of Elwood because they were afraid of the gaze of the others shows how these characters aren’t free from external judgment and that they may care too much about their image.

The play makes us think about the conditions of psychiatric patients as well. Many of them in the past weren’t treated as they should have been. People always find a way to despise them no longer considering them as human beings: the treatment the characters had to endure in the hospital in Harvey testifies to this.

 

• Critique de  Antone Reboul-Carsalade, Aurélien Saint-Jean et Alexandre Champion
  

On Thursday September 29th we went to a theatre named « Le Théâtre du Rond-Point » which is not far from the Champs-Elysées. In this theatre, we saw a play entitled Harvey. This play was written by Mary Chase in 1944 and that night it was directed by Laurent Pelly. This play is a comedy featuring around ten characters. The most important characters are Elwood, his sister Vita, Dr. Chumley and Dr. Sanderson.

The play takes place in a city and it tells the story of Elwood, a rich man whose best friend is a giant white rabbit measuring around 2 meters named Harvey, which is only visible to Elwood. Vita can no longer stand the company of Harvey, so she has decided to send her brother to Dr. Chumley’s psychiatric hospital.

The staging is well done, some situations are fun and have a good timing. The actors of the most important characters are Jacques Gamblin, Christine Brücher, Pierre Aussedat, Thomas Condemine. The background doesn’t change but the props can be modified during all the play thanks to wheels put under many modules like stairs or a front door. This system allows to easily change the location of the scene from the apartment to the hospital for example. There are also many decoration objects and pieces of furniture like plants or hospital lamps to make the general atmosphere. There are funny light effects which represent Harvey when he is walking. In addition, there are sound effects when the telephone is ringing and when there are guests in the apartment. The costumes are simple, the doctors have white gowns, and the other characters have dresses or suits. We will now present our opinion about the play. The props are great because we can understand where the scene takes place even if we don’t hear it. The play is fun, so we laughed many times. Our favorite character is Elwood (played by Jacques Gamblin) because he is the most fun actor. He plays very well, especially when he is speaking to Harvey because he must imagine him, and it’s hilarious. We also notice his little relaxed appearance; we really think that he’s crazy. The end makes us think because he is crazy but very nice, gentle-mannered, generous and happy and we wonder what is better between treating him and and therefore seeing him lose his happiness or keeping him as he is a nice, generous and happy gentleman.

To conclude, we loved the play because we had a great time, and we love Jacques Gamblin’s character! The plot is nice, the staging with detailed props, light and sound effects is well done, and the story is very good and fun!

• Critique de Ona, Nouria et Surya : 

We went to see the play Harvey at the Théâtre du Rond-Point. It is a comedy written by Mary Chase in 1944, that we can guess takes place somewhere in the United States. It is based on the story of a man, Elwood, who sees a 1.90-meter-tall white giant rabbit : Harvey. He considers him as his best friend. His sister therefore decides to intern him in a psychiatric hospital. A misunderstanding happens, and nothing goes as planned.

The props were really realistic and the fact that they were moveable and brought by the actors at every change of place kept us captivated all along. The background wall and the floor were covered in doodles, probably referring to Elwood’s mental state.

About the cast : they were 13 characters but only 12 of them were played by actors because Harvey, the rabbit is invisible. However, Jacques Gamblin, Elwood’s actor, manages to make Harvey present on the stage so realistically that we’re almost able to see him. The acting of J. Gamblin contrasts with the others’: he’s relaxed and lunar and even in his way of walking, he’s soft and calm while the other characters are electric and tense.

There’s a good chemistry between the members of the cast and it creates a good acting dynamic which is very pleasant to watch.

The staging was well made and crystal clear along with the texts which were well said and articulated, and it enhanced the play that never bored us.

The play clearly talks about madness and the difference it creates in a society that wants people to be « normal » and to follow the codes. But it implicitly speaks of loneliness, through the character of Elwood who is always apart from the others. Indeed, he starts the play alone on stage and ends it alone again. The last scene with the light that slowly goes off leaves us perplexed and moved.

To conclude, the story was at first sight amusing, but it is actually a deep reflection on human behaviours. Because in the end, we don’t know anymore if Elwood really is the craziest person on the stage.

A brain-twisting comedy, a must-see !