Deux Garçons, la Mer is director Christophe Garro’s ambitious two-hour adaptation for the stage of Jamie O’Neill’s novel At Swim, Two Boys (2001). With minimal scenery, the play admirably weaves together large historical events – World War I and the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland – with the intimate stories of some of the inhabitants of Dublin, focusing on the budding love story between the working-class radical Doyler (beautifully acted by Philippe LeGall) and the teenage Jim (Thomas Cauchon), who meet every morning on the beach for marathon swims. Other characters who play important roles include the aristocratic McMurrough, who has spent two years at forced labor in a British prison, à la Oscar Wilde, whom he resembles in many respects, and his aunt Eveline, a rich woman committed to the cause of Irish independence. The play might have benefited from the cutting of some of the auxiliary characters, but otherwise this love story with a political backdrop translates well onto the French stage.
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