Actress, author, and director, Tatiana Gousseff brings to the stage the story of a chaotic life. Adapted from a Broadway hit, her play tells the story of 64 odd jobs and other «bullshit jobs», offering a striking mirror of France. Meet an artist who uses humor as a «survival weapon.»
Known for her roles on television and in cinema, Tatiana Gousseff makes a remarkable return to the stage at the Théâtre La Flèche in Paris with her one-woman show «Ma vie en biais» (My Biased Life).
For the actress, the purpose of theater goes beyond entertainment. The artist admits to having long been frustrated by not having the choice of her own voice, dreaming of a more institutional trajectory – Conservatory, Comédie-Française – focused on «citizen text.» Having missed these competitions, she knew she would have to «go through the back door» to convey a political message. She firmly believes that theater is a «political tool» and finds it «terrible» that it is scorned by a certain political faction.
This need for engagement is reflected in her journey. Tatiana Gousseff describes herself as a «hypersensitive» person driven by empathy, whose interest lies in «struggles and victories.» Beyond her official roles, she has been actively involved in activism. She trained in raising awareness about discrimination and wrote, acted, and directed within a corporate theater company for eight years. She intervened in large organizations to raise awareness about discrimination (sexism, sexual orientation, race, origins). She summarizes this approach with the metaphor of the hummingbird: «We cannot change the world, but we can make a difference at our own level.»
The text she chose, «Blown Sideways through Life» by Claudia Shear, resonates particularly with the French economic situation. While the original text was set in 1990s Brooklyn, Tatiana Gousseff chose to adapt the story to «present-day France» and to use her own name to make the message even more impactful so that «people identify 400% with the character she embodies. The title, «Ma vie en biais,» is a metaphor she created from the idea that life is not «straight» or «square,» but lived diagonally, through «sideways paths.»
The show portrays a woman who accumulated, then lost, 64 odd jobs. The actress is convinced that this experience, although from the life of the American author, is even more relevant today than it was thirty years ago. According to Tatiana Gousseff, things have worsened.
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Tatiana GousseffExcerpt from the show «Ma vie en biais»
Through the show, she allows us to better understand how society is falling more and more into «uberization and bullshit jobs». She addresses head-on the issues of impoverishment of the population, workplace distress, and power dynamics.
The heroine indeed goes through various jobs, unrelated to each other, such as a waitress in a Vodka-Bar or a receptionist in an illegal brothel. While Claudia Shear’s character could easily find a new job in the United States in the 90s, Tatiana Gousseff nuances this by saying that in France today, even though it is possible to have multiple jobs (fast food, hostess, etc.), it has become much more difficult to find a new job after being laid off.
Despite the harshness of the journey depicted, Tatiana Gousseff wants «Ma vie en biais» to remain a «poignant and humorous story», a «luminous victory against self-esteem and precariousness». She emphasizes the importance of humor, which she sees as a «survival tool» and a «resilience tool». The show aims to be a mirror of hope.
«This text also has a personal impact on the artist. The author’s perspective on people continues to educate her. She sometimes gets annoyed in everyday life – for example, at the supermarket checkout, when she has to wait her turn – before remembering the message of the play: «We don’t know who people are and maybe they have extraordinary stories.» This lesson translates into a call for empathy: at a restaurant, for example, talk to the waiters «like you talk to your other guests.»
Tatiana Goussef embarked on this self-produced project, which was a new world for her. The show was first performed at the Avignon Off Festival in 2017, but unfortunately without a follow-up. The «real start» is this fall in Paris, with a deeply reworked staging.
The actress was encouraged to create this show by the director of the Théâtre La Flèche. Initially, it was a «scary challenge» designed to push her out of her comfort zone. The show reminds us, in conclusion, that adapting does not mean giving up and that compromising is not betraying oneself. It highlights the fact that «no one is just a waitress, just a bus driver, just a delivery person, or just a prostitute», because every individual encountered in life «has a story that could move you». Tatiana Gousseff, comédienne engagée, revient sur scène avec son seul en scène «Ma vie en biais» au théâtre La Flèche à Paris. Elle aborde des thèmes politiques et sociaux à travers son interprétation du texte de Claudia Shear, adapté à la France contemporaine. Elle met en lumière la précarité, la paupérisation, et les rapports de domination dans la société actuelle. Malgré la dureté des sujets abordés, elle insiste sur l’importance de l’humour comme «outil de résilience» et souhaite que son spectacle soit une source d’espérance pour le public. Tatiana Gousseff a fait le choix de mettre en lumière cette réalité contemporaine de précarité et de multiples emplois qui caractérise de nombreuses vies. Elle souhaite ainsi sensibiliser le public aux difficultés rencontrées par de nombreuses personnes dans la société actuelle.
L’histoire de la pièce, adaptée de la vie de l’autrice Claudia Shear, résonne avec le parcours chaotique et mouvementé de Tatiana Gousseff. Cette dernière a dû jongler avec différents emplois et expériences pour se frayer un chemin dans le monde du spectacle. Son engagement politique et social transparaît à travers son choix de monter ce spectacle, qui met en lumière les réalités du monde du travail et les inégalités sociales.
Le message central de la pièce, selon lequel chaque individu a une histoire qui mérite d’être entendue et respectée, résonne profondément avec Tatiana Gousseff. Elle encourage à faire preuve d’empathie envers les autres, à ne pas juger trop vite les personnes rencontrées dans la vie quotidienne. Cette leçon d’humanité et de compassion se reflète également dans son approche du métier d’actrice et de metteuse en scène.
Le parcours artistique et personnel de Tatiana Gousseff est marqué par un désir de transmettre des messages forts et engagés à travers ses projets. Son retour sur les planches avec «Ma vie en biais» est l’occasion pour elle de partager son expérience et son regard sur le monde qui l’entoure. Son engagement en faveur de la diversité, de l’inclusion et de la justice sociale se manifeste à travers ses choix artistiques et ses prises de position.
En conclusion, Tatiana Gousseff incarne une artiste engagée et passionnée, qui utilise le théâtre comme un moyen de sensibilisation et de changement. Son spectacle, porté par un message fort et une mise en scène remaniée, invite le public à réfléchir sur les trajectoires de vie, les inégalités sociales et la nécessité de faire preuve d’empathie envers les autres. Son parcours atypique et ses choix artistiques audacieux font d’elle une figure inspirante de la scène théâtrale contemporaine. Les choses ont pris une tournure difficile pour Tatiana Gousseff.
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