Introduction

“Ne M’Attendez Pas Ce Soir“ is a dramatic theatre play by French playwright François Billetdoux, which was staged from the 20th of October 1971 at the Théâtre National de l'Odéon in Paris (running for 25 performances). The 2,5 hour play is described as “a poem-spectacle about a wonderful world, a kind of allegory of time passing and events following one another”. It not only features music by Vangelis, but also a song by the Greek singer Irene Papas.

Vangelis is credited for the music, but in the absence of recordings it is difficult to verify if Vangelis composed original music for this play. Still, the following quote from a review of the play does suggest so: "Sound work is also very important, with François Billetdoux surrounding himself with artistic collaborators, sound engineers and musicians, whom he was able to meet in his work for radio. Significantly, the list of characters is replaced, in "Ne M’Attendez Pas Ce Soir" by an instrumentation where, in addition to the protagonists of the play, elements of decor, a 'light rhythm', but also a 'sound object', the Vroum, 'a series of noises in stereophony', as well as a song by Irene Papas on music composed by Vangelis Papathanassiou."

François Billetdoux (1927-1991), who wrote and produced the play as well as performed on stage, worked with Vangelis before on Frédéric Rossif’s documentary “Cantique Des Créatures” (1970) and “Georges Mathieu Ou La Fureur d'Être” (1971). Billetdoux would regularly work with French director Frédéric Rossif as a writer and narrator, for instance on his wildlife documentary series “L’Apocalypse Des Animaux” (1973) and “L’Opéra Sauvage” (1976).

In 1972 François Billetdoux staged his next play “Les Veuves”, which in style and performance is very much related to "Ne M’Attendez Pas Ce Soir" and also includes music by Vangelis.

Credits

• Title: Ne M’Attendez Pas Ce Soir
• Year: 1971
• Country: France
• Produced by François Billetdoux
• Screenplay by François Billetdoux
• Music by Vangelis Papathanassiou
• Vocal by Irene Papas
• Sound by Madeleine Sola and Louis Matabon
• Decors by Claude Lemaire, Louis Chavignier and Jacques Voyet
• Shamane puppets by Jacques Voyet
• Costumes by Sevin-Doering
• Mask by Petrus Bride
• With the cooperation of l’Atelier De Création Radiophonique ORTF.

Cast

• François Billetdoux - Bonaventure
• Virginie Billetdoux - Évangéline
• Rudi Coupez - Rudolf
• Bernard Crombe - L'Entrepreneur
• Michel-Jean Robin - L'Homme Qui
• Emmanuel S - L'Enfant Rouge

Media

Unfortunately there are no known recordings of either the play or the music as used in the play. If you have any information about this play or the music, please write to the email address below!

Synopsis

Once upon a time, in Paris perhaps, there was an old man of a certain age with a bald head from which long wisps of stringy yellow hair fell to his shoulders, and a big white nose. He was going in and out of his deep old room, coming back again and again to look at his face in a cluster of shattered mirrors, all gilded by the passage of time, because he was really worried because the day before he had met a really young girl in the street who had given him a big smile and it had stopped there...

Gallery

Photos by Roger Pic