An ecological fable before its time, Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees is a short story written in 1953 to “make people like planting trees”, in his words. In this short story, the narrator recalls his encounter in Haute-Provence with an extraordinary character: a solitary and peaceful shepherd who plants trees, thousands of them. Elzéard Bouffier, the silent, stubborn one, reconciles man and nature. A fiction that activates reality, a bearer of hope; this forest has social and economic consequences, allowing the surrounding villages to welcome new families when they were threatened by desertification.
Seit 2014, dem Jahr der Uraufführung des Stücks, führen diesen Text bei jeder Gelegenheit vor, die Musikerin lässt die Worte von Jean Giono erklingen, Olivier Havran verkörpert den Erzähler mit Sanftheit und Aufrichtigkeit. Ein inspirierender Atemzug.
Since 2014, the year of the show’s creation, Sara Oswald and Olivier Havran have been walking this text whenever they can, the musician making Jean Giono’s words resonate, Olivier Havran embodying the narrator with gentleness and sincerity. Inspiring breathing.
The arboRise association, inspired by Jean Giono, offered this ode to the foliage to forest lovers on 16 January 2022 at 5pm at the St-François church in Lausanne, as part of the festivities for its 750th anniversary.
Two patron saints are sponsoring the show: Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the first to celebrate Creation, Nature and what we call “the Environment” nowadays, which is why he can be considered the patron saint of ecology. And then Saint Marcel, celebrated on January 16, the patron saint of seed growers!
