A descendant of a line of Andalusian women, Lola Cam carries within her an ancestral legacy: generation after generation, the women of her family have passed down fabric hearts containing pieces of paper on which they have recorded their lives and secrets. Five sewn-up hearts thus rest in her wardrobe, carefully safeguarding the family’s marital memories. When a novelist settles in her village for a few months to write her next book, it becomes clear: their paths cross, jostle and collide at the very moment one of the hearts is torn apart.
Transitioning from novel to stage, Martine Corbat and playwright Carine Corajoud delve into Carole Martinez’s language as one might venture step by step into a forest, with its shadows and silhouettes. Sign by sign, they sculpt this finely crafted and lush prose in which the marvellous and the real coexist. Fabulous characters straight out of a fairy tale then appear, along with spellbinding stories that blur the boundary between worlds even further. Tracing a family tree, they explore the impact of our ancestors’ traumas on the present, from a transgenerational perspective. How does resilience enable us to rebuild ourselves and free ourselves from the weight of the past ?