“The Secret Life of Old People”, the shocking sexuality of seniors, humorously and unfiltered dissected by Mohamed El Khatib

We cried and laughed a lot, but above all we find it difficult to recover from this explosive spectacle. The secret life of old people is a slap in the face. The comparison may seem harsh, but it is appropriate. Mohamed El Khatib’s play reveals a sexuality that we cannot imagine, that of the elderly. On the Avignon stage, they are all over 75 years old.

To talk about their sex life, the director chose an ancient location, namely the monastery of the Chartreuse de Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, 12 minutes by car from the city center. A place full of religion and chastity, to which his play represents the opposite. Founded in the 14th century by Pope Innocent VI, the Chartreuse houses the Cloister of the Dead, which served as a burial place for the monks, and the Cloister of Saint-Jean, located in the former courtyard of the palace of Cardinal Aubert. Around the large fountain of this magnificent place, the audience waited patiently under a scorching sun but in pleasant calm to attend the performance.

The vaulted auditorium, kept cool by the centuries-old stone, has been transformed into a ballroom. Jacqueline Juin, the iconic face of Belgian television channel RTBF for decades, enters in her wheelchair. Jean-Pierre switches on the lights in the hall.Given their age, people can die on stage at any time, like Dalida. We urge you to remain calm. It is better to die on stage than in the ephah.”A message on a screen warns us. General hilarity.

Jacqueline Juin is now 91 years old and still speaks well, which is why she was chosen by Mohamed El Khatib to open the play. She is not afraid to mention her age or the desires that flow through her, such as “make love every day”When she talks about the difference between now and when she was 20, she says: “CWhat I miss is not kissing anyone on the mouth anymore,” but also to know “that we exist in someone’s eyes, that someone misses us”.

The testimony of Jacqueline and the eight other elders is valuable. This moment will remain in the memory of every viewer. The opportunity to enjoy this unique moment of sharing makes the piece tear-jerking.. When Mohamed El Khatib explains that Georges, one of the play’s protagonists, died during the creation of the play, it is impossible to hold back the tears, despite being warned about this at the very beginning of the play. It is also impossible to miss a minute of these irreplaceable speeches that we may never hear again until we ourselves experience old age. The shame and taboo surrounding the sexuality of older people is deeply rooted. Who has ever spoken to their grandparents about it, for example?

“The sexuality of older people is a blind spot that neither institutions nor families want to get under control.“, explains Mohamed El Khatib in an interview with the festival. The director overturns this taboo, this thoughtlessness of society, with the speeches of his characters and their experiences. After a short announcement, Mohamed El Khatib collected a hundred witness statements. With all these seniors he the tour of her love life, but above all a review of her age. The director has made flirting with the documentary in the theater his specialty. For 2025, Mohamed El Khatib is also preparing one, with the same title as the play.

He examines different sociological profiles and different experiences. For example, that of an 82-year-old former surgeon with an unfaithful husband, a bourgeois Catholic who learns about sexuality from books, or that of a man who learns about it from a prostitute in Tunis.Mom, are you still fucking?” The daughter of one of the actresses asked him this. She would never have dared to ask her mother such a question in her time. And the answer to this question is yes, “With a hot Mexican, if she only knew!”.

Another protagonist feels no difference between the urges she felt at the age of 20 and those she feels today when a charming gentleman comes before her eyes. These “old men” talk uninhibitedly about masturbation, erections, and orgasms.I wanted them to tell their stories themselves, without filters, with all the fragility that entails.”explains the director, who refuses “give an expected speech about old age”.

The production integrates the needs of the older people present on stage into a refreshing form of letting go.They move as they please.”confides the director. Mohamed El Khatib is present on stage to help them position themselves or get them going. A way of reassuring them while waiting for them to take over the show. A nursing assistant, a care figure, also offers help and tells her story in the ehpads, like the time she surprised Mrs. Million on all fours with her roommate while her husband was looking for her.

These nursing homes where there are no Arabs, blacks or Asians. Yasmine, the nursing assistant, reminds us that this is not the case.in our cultures, leaving our elderly in abusive structures because their children refused to care for them.” But it is also a question of means, because these structures remain costly for the people mentioned.

The only racially discriminated protagonist on stage is black. She confirms that she is the only racially discriminated person in her nursing home and also explains that she had her first orgasm… at 65. All these people of a certain age embrace and claim their sexuality, which they want to live to the fullest. One of them says she escaped from her nursing home to live her love story.What I want is sex. I don’t want to die without coming again.”she says urgently. In these institutions, where emotional desires are given little consideration, dramas can arise, according to Mohamed El Katib. Anne’s children reject her passionate love affair with Jean-Claude. She cannot bear the distance from her lover and finally commits suicide in her ephad. A kind of Romeo and Juliet turned on its head what seemed unthinkable to us until the discovery of this charitable piece.

“The Secret Life of Old People” by Mohamed El Khatib at the Chartreuse de Villeneuve-lez-Avignon until 19 July
Du 12 to 26 September 2024 at the Théâtre de la Ville and on tour throughout France