A French left -wing theater company based in a park outside Paris is the search for the soul after accusations that it has left minor volunteers vulnerable to sexual abuse.
The Theater Du Soleil, a collective based since 1970 in a disused ammunition factory in the Bois Park of Vincennes to the east of the capital, is famous for his works acclaimed by critics.
The same salary is also known to pay for all its members, and until recently it demanded that the actors also led to help in the kitchen.
But the company says that it has been in shock since a former volunteer last month claimed “attempted rape” in the theater in 2010 as part of a parliamentary investigation that examines sexual abuse in the arts.
The final report of the probe, a great achievement in the #MeToo movement of France, asked the creative industry on Wednesday that eliminated what it called “endemic” abuse of artists.
As part of the investigation, Acress Agathe Pujol, in his thirty years, told a parliamentary investigation that a 39 -year -old tried to violate her in front of “several witnesses” at a party at the Du Soleil Theater in December 2010.
Pujol said he had discovered experimental theater in March that same year, as a 16 -year -old shy young woman with dreams of becoming a scene actor.
Speaking to a parliamentary panel, he described a tense atmosphere in which adolescents were allowed to drink alcohol and “inappropriate sexual behavior” was swept under the carpet.
“He always had to be silenced,” he said.
Pujol also described free working in the theater kitchens, where the 39 -year -old actor would see her and at least four other volunteers.
Advertisement
‘What a surprise’
A source inside the theater, speaking anonymously because he is not allowed to speak with the press, said that Pujol’s accusations had been a bomb.
“It was a shock,” said the source. “Some actors can have a bit heavy leg, but there was a constant sexual atmosphere.”
The theater has said in two public statements that it was “stunned” and was launching an internal investigation to “determine the possible negligence, errors, errors, misatters or crimes that could have been committed hey 15 years ago,
Ariane Mnouchkine, 86 -year -old co -founder of the theater, immediately convened a meeting after Pujol’s accusations.
“This meeting is one of the most serious in the history of the Du Soleil Theater,” said the English and half Russian director, the attendees, according to a newspaper from the newspaper Le Monde who was present.
In a separate case, Pujol also accused another actor, whose career begins at the Du Soleil Theater in the 1970s, or sexual abuse.
He told the release of the French left newspaper in January that Philippe Caubere, now 74 years old, raped her repeatedly and recruited strangers of strangers to abuse from her door a toxic relationship of a decade that began when she was vulnerable.
Caubere has denied “imposing any sexual relationship” on it, and the Du Soleil Theater has said it left it in 1978.
Advertisement
‘Hard work’
Other members of the company did not want to speak publicly.
But the theater source told AFP that after some were accused of “inappropriate behavior” last year, the company hired an advisor to avoid situations of inappropriate sexual behavior.
Mnouchkine confirmed this, but did not provide additional details.
The source said that two members had been fired in recent months, but the theater director told AFP that the “painful” incident was “not related” to Pujol’s accusations.
Clemence Massart, an 80 -year -old acressas that was part of the company in the 1970s, said he never had experimental sexual pressure.
“I never felt any more pressure than work,” he told AFP.
“It is a difficult job and it is a place where you have to do well. You need good mental and physical health, and you have to accept asking questions,” he said.
French actress Judith Godreche, 53, requested parliamentary investigation last year after accusing two French directors of sex who abused her when she was a teenager.
]
