REVIEW: The Festival d'Avignon Presents BUNKER By Marion Siéfert et Matthieu Bareyre

In his podcast, political commentator Ezra Klein has examined a curious conundrum within the modern elite: the pursuit of extraordinary qualities divorced from their original purpose. Looksmaxers have become sterile in their pursuit of superhuman beauty. The wealthy often sacrifice the very places they claim to desire in order to optimize for tax benefits. What, then, is this performance of power actually for? In Marion Siéfert and Matthieu Bareyre’s imaginative play Bunker, now playing at the Festival d’Avignon’s La Fabrica, we encounter this Faustian bargain.

A billionaire who has built both a body and a bunker around the principle of optimization has sown the seeds of his own destruction. As the world outside dissolves into chaos, with temperatures rising five degrees, he retreats underground with his guru/surgeon/trainer, alongside his daughter, who has long since fallen silent. At the beginning of the play, he undergoes elective surgery designed to enhance his cognitive abilities. He can switch between languages and professional meetings at a moment’s notice. While practicing martial arts, stretching with elastic bands, and cycling through spin exercises, he shifts seamlessly between conversations with board members, assistants, and his encouraging yet domineering mother. Meanwhile, his daughter silently reads at the center of the room.

Charlotte Arnaud’s set design, composed of large exits, illuminated emergency signs, and scattered fire hoses, creates a space of constant urgency. Escape is always available, but only as a last resort. The production elevates what could have easily become a mere imitation of a Black Mirror episode into a genuine exploration of an elite man’s psychology. Dressed by Chloé Courcelle in a spectacular Napoleon costume, Charles-Henri Wolff sits across from his silent daughter at the dinner table. Before them rests a multi-meter-long octopus and a bottle of Puligny-Montrachet. She has little appetite. Wolff then launches into a minutes-long monologue filled with vanity, recrimination, rationalized narcissism, and moments of genuine pathos. His daughter watches him with complete detachment. Eventually, she makes the decision to abandon him, as her brother did before her. Alone in the bunker, he begins to suffer from dementia. His pursuit of optimization, achieved through total separation from the chaos of the outside world, has resulted in his own dehumanization.

Through its imaginative world-building, carefully constructed family dynamics, and powerful performances, Bunker moves beyond simple didacticism to become a compelling family drama. As the encouraging yet ultimately self-serving doctor, Lorenzo Lefebvre creates an attractive and appropriately shallow reflection through which the billionaire sustains his own sense of self. As the daughter, Janice Bieleu brings a cool reserve that never slips into emotional distance. She carefully calculates her position within the bunker and her relationship with her father. Does she want to abandon this home? Can a bunker ever truly become one?

Although the play distributes the billionaire’s voice among numerous interlocutors, both onstage and off, it ultimately rests on the shoulders of Charles-Henri Wolff. His breathless, high-voltage performance creates the sensation of a monologue that others occasionally interrupt. Yet the character is not a monster. He is charismatic, attractive, and often funny. He insists that he loves his daughter and his family. But his pursuit of greatness has left him incapable of loving anyone on their own terms. His terms become THE terms. His vision becomes THE vision. He has no capacity for compromise. And yet compromise, the willingness to negotiate, to accept limits, and to recognize others as independent beings, is precisely the foundation of love, community, and humanity.

Photo Credit: Christophe Raynaud de Lage

Recevez l'actualité de Broadway sur WhatsApp

Recevez les dernières mises à jour, les nouvelles de dernière minute et une couverture exclusive directement dans l’application.