Les Mauvais Bergers
Les Mauvais bergers ( The Bad Shepherds) is a modern tragedy, in five acts, by the French journalist, novelist and playwright Octave Mirbeau, performed in December 1897 on the stage of Théâtre de la Renaissance, in Paris, then published by Charpentier-Fasquelle in March 1898. The main parts were played by the two most famous French actors of the time: Sarah Bernhardt, as Madeleine, and Lucien Guitry, as Jean Roule.
No English translation has been published.
Plot summary
This is the story of a workers’ strike, which is opposed by the boss, Hargand, and bloodily cruelly crushed by the army, like a situation similar to that of in the famous Émile Zola’s famous novel Germinal. But, while Zola ends the his novel on a note of hope, evoking imagery of future germinations, Mirbeau’s play ends in pessimism, with at the pessimistic end of the play, that’s the triumph of death: all the strikers are killed, including Jean Roule, the leader, and his lover, the young and pregnant Madeleine. Not even Robert Hargand survives, the boss’s son who supports the strikers and tries to stop the massacre. There is no more hope, no possibility of renewal in future generations. No germination can be predicted!
This play is inspired by anarchist politics, particularly evident in Jean Roule’s speeches, yet it neither presents itself as propaganda nor offers a solution to the social question.