Dancing With Death

On Saturday 20 July the Preuilly community got together to put on an original performance, Ars Moriendi, created as a fundraiser for the restoration of the medieval danse macabre painted on the walls of the Chapelle de tous les saints.

A poster advertising the performance.

In the 14th and 15 centuries, one tragic event followed another. Wars, famines and the Black Death ravaged Europe. It was in these dark times that the funerary art known as Ars Moriendi developed. Numerous churchs came to be decorated with danses macabres, murals in which 24 characters are confronted by Death, who comes looking for them. All levels of society are represented from the Pope to the villager.

Retired local policeman, dressed in Napoleonic era uniforms, providing traffic direction services.

Above the characters is written the dialogue between Death and the future deceased. They demand clemency from the Grim Reaper, but he reminds them of their destiny. The educative aim of these wall paintings was to show that everyone was equal in front of Death, whether great or minor in their Earthly life. And that everyone must make the most of life now, because Death could come at any moment.

The Legate.

Very few medieval danses macabres have survived the centuries. There are only a dozen extant in France. The one at Preuilly sur Claise is unique because it shows not one, but two dances -- one of the men and the other of women. Was Preuilly ahead of its time in granting women equality to men in society?

The Wife and Death.

The script was written by Christian Caillet, and inspired by a document dating from 1485, from the cemetery of Saints-Innocents de Paris. But rest assured, the performance was not sinister. With colourful costumes, merry songs and joyful music the performance was far from sad. The verbal sparring between the different protagonists was laced with humour. The wife was told not to worry, her husband would remarry and not miss her. The minstrel sang a lament, but so beautifully he was one of the stars of the show. The Legate, played by the president of the local history society, was asked if he had come seeking a grant. The performers were all locals, with an age gap of exactly 80 years between the oldest (Albert, playing the Archbishop) and the youngest (Léa, playing the little girl).

The Wife, with her painted backdrop (dubbed by the artists 'La Parisienne').

Yolande Deberne directed and made the costumes. When they were casting, Christian said to her that they needed someone really special to play Death, as they carry the show and are on stage more or less all the time. Christian thought they needed someone skinny and lithe, who would caper about, and could properly act. Yolande apparently looked at him and responded 'I've got one of those at home' -- and so her husband Michel got to play Death.

The orchestra of the dead, in the skeleton suits, and the young minstrel, in red, who sang a beautiful solo before meeting Death.

To provide interludes and links, the local medieval troupe Les trouvères du val de Claise played medieval songs and tunes to accompany a local choir, assisted by the percussionists from the School of Music. The scenery was painted by the folk who attend the local drawing evening classes. Lighting was provided by the fire brigade and set up by Paris Bruno, who is a lighting engineer for big stage events in real life. Various local groups helped make the scenery. Several retired policemen got dressed up to direct traffic. Dozens and dozens of people volunteered in some way, and 450 people attended the performance.

Death approaches the Pope.

Everything was financed by grants from the Fund for the Development of Community Life, the municipality of Preuilly sur Claise and the bank Crédit Agricole. This means that the €8 ticket price was pure profit. You do the maths -- 450 x 8...A terrific contribution to the restoration fund.

The married couple enter, with the orchestra of the dead on the left and choir on the right.

The restoration of the chapel is being managed by the local history association, known as the SAP. The first part, the repair of the walls and roof and conservation of the painted ceiling vault has been successfully completed and this performance is to raise money for the middle stage, the conservation of the danse macabre paintings themselves.

The whole cast at the end of the performance.

The chapel dates from the end of the 15th century and sits in a park that was once a cemetery. Abandoned at the beginning of the 20th century, it fell into ruin and the municipality at the time planned to demolish it. A local architect stepped in and purchased it in order to save it. To his surprise he discovered the danse macabre paintings hidden under later render. In 2001 the chapel was handed back to the municipality and in 2014 a campaign began to restore the building. The first stage was completed in 2017 and included the carpentry, roof, masonry and the wooden panelled vaulted ceiling, thanks to help from DRAC (the Regional Department for Arts and Culture), the municipality, the SAP (the local history society) and other arts charities. 

Other blog posts about the Chapelle de tous les saints.

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