Reanimating Sacco and Vanzetti: Historicity in Armand Gatti’s Play Chant Public Devant Deux Chaises Électriques

Armand Gatti, who has been memorialized by many different cultural events in France this year for his 100th anniversary of birth, is one of the authentic political writers of 20th century French theater. He has also used many historical and social events as the subjects for his theater plays: the 68 Generation, the Vietnam War, the Guatemalan Civil War, Spain of Franco and many other events that have resonated not only in their own countries but all over the world. Apart from this, another subject, which Gatti did not witness personally but that his father always narrated to him, has a significant place. He operated the tragic story of the electric chair execution of two Italian workers, Sacco & Vanzetti, immigrated to America in the early 1900s, in his play Chant Public devant deux chaises électriques. In this play, Gatti built a bridge between the past, the present and the future by using various techniques in theater. At the same time, the real audience of the play experiences a play within a different play; some of the actors appear as spectators-actors. These spectators-actors on stage will identify with the real persons (and witnesses) in the Sacco & Vanzetti story by establishing a connection between their own stories, thus experiencing a kind of “catharsis” as seen in tragedies. The main question of this play, assumed to be staged simultaneously in five different cities, is “Will Sacco & Vanzetti really be executed again in this hall tonight?” Gatti’s play, reminiscent of Alain Decaux’s The Rosenbergs Must Not Die, alludes to the Rosenbergs, despite their execution preceding Sacco & Vanzetti. In this study, we will not only examine the innovations Gatti brought to theater with his play Chant public devant deux chaises électriques, but also indicate how historicity is handled in theater by the author.