Meuse. From Flames to Light: These extra actors who play in the show without ever having seen it

"Maybe I'll go see the show From Flames to Light from the stands one day when I have a broken arm and can't perform," Ethan Baudin says, laughing.

The 14-year-old has clearly made his choice. He prefers to work in the quarries of Haudainville, near Verdun, alongside other extras rather than watch the sound and light show from the stands. And it's been going on for seven years!

"My grandmother suggested I become a volunteer, I accepted and I really enjoyed it," recalls the Meuse native from Neuvilly-en-Argonne. It was also Chloé Chenet's grandmother who inspired her to become a volunteer at the age of 4. Today, the Barisienne is fifteen years older and for her, there's no doubt: "Playing is better!"

"You can feel lost at first, but you quickly find your bearings," says the woman who has played many roles and is now, since 2022, a French soldier. Volunteers can count on the show's six stage managers, but also, for newcomers, their partner.

"We also each have a role sheet (Editor's note: where the 61 scenes of the show are noted and where those played by the extra are specified), it helps us a lot," continues Chloé. "We also find our way around by sound, even if they are scenes we haven't seen; we know how to recognize them by ear."

"Generally speaking, you have to go with the flow," adds Killian Pey, who has been playing alongside Chloé since last year. "Despite the rehearsals, you don't always know where you are in the progress of the show, or what the others are doing, or how people see you, but you do what you have to do."

Originally from Fréjus (Var), Killian settled in Verdun at the end of 2023 for work. The show allowed him to meet people. "Without it, I would have been going around in circles at home," admits the 33-year-old volunteer. "And it's really interesting to perform on a huge outdoor stage."

“I like theater; I used to do it at school,” recalls Jenny Laufer, who joined Des Flammes à la lumière in 2019 on the advice of a friend. “We need people like us to spread a message of peace.”

Immediately thrown into the rehearsals, the forty-year-old would discover - a little later during her first season - the show through the DVD (Editor's note: renewed last year) but never from the stands. "It allowed me to better understand the scenes that some volunteers told me about," explains the Meurthe-et-Moselle native. "There are people I greet without even knowing what they do, so I was able to discover their roles. There are also scenes that I can see in real life from backstage, but not all of them since I'm often busy changing props or costumes."

"The DVD allows us to better visualize, especially the mapping, and to see the crazy work that goes into it," says Killian, who was also able to see it at the end of his first year of volunteering. "But it's like watching a match on TV; it's not the same. It's better to see it in the stadium!"

Chloé took the plunge last year. It was an opportunity for the expert, from the podium, to spot a few small mistakes that went unnoticed by the public, but also to take in the sights. "What we do is incredible!"