In this overview of the life and work of Patti Smith, Brigitte Haentjens draws us into a total creative whirlwind in the heart of a changing America. Parce que la nuit combines electric guitars, poetry, counterculture and romanticism in the free and effervescent spirit of the ’70s.

Patti Smith arrived in New York in 1967, just over 20 years old, hungry for freedom and in step with the city’s artistic effervescence and social upheavals. There she met Robert Mapplethorpe, who would later become an art photographer, and the young playwright Sam Shepard; Patti herself became a poet, musician, painter, muse, icon. A paradoxical figure, a totally engaged artist shaped by her affinity for Kerouac and Rimbaud, the fighter with the androgynous body personified the spirit of punk long before it became a household word.

Unique and complex, like the artist herself, this creation about Patti Smith continues the creative research of Brigitte Haentjens, who, with her company Sibyllines, explores the secret fractures of female identity. Here, her compelling dramatic writing is interwoven with poems, songs, and music performed live by three musicians. The script is co-written by Dany Boudreault and Brigitte Haentjens, with the collaboration of Céline Bonnier, a long-time associate of NAC French Theatre’s artistic director.

*** Presented in French with passages in English. ***