A few extracts from letters about Moussa Abadi’s place in the theatre

… I felt admiration and affection for him, beyond our shared love of the theatre. Images come back to me: that quixotic intervention in Saint-Étienne, alone against everyone, denouncing the drift of decentralisation; those conversations in restaurants and the overviews we loved; our meetings at the theatre, where Moussa was inseparable from Odette. He was happy to publish his book on Damascus, and he brought back to life, with a novelist’s talent and infinite tenderness, those humble or picturesque figures, that slice of life […], those secret arcana of memory.

Robert ABIRACHED

… With him disappears a humanist and a man of great culture who served the art of theatre with extreme rigour and discretion, and at the same time with passion. His memory has remained vivid within the Theatre Directorate as president of the Commission for Aid to Dramatic Creation.

Jacques Baillon
Directorate of Theatre and Performing Arts

… Artists cannot forget how much your husband loved our profession, and with what love and what expertise he spoke of the theatre.

Gisèle CASADESUS

… a model of theatre criticism and a great writer. I read his books with passion: his storytelling art, his finesse, the depth of his culture, his wit – everything was for me a lesson in knowledge and in flavour.

Armelle HELIOT

… I will always remember the so competent and so passionate expert he was on our committees for aid to theatre companies at the Ministry of Culture. The breadth of his culture amazed us. The warmth of his conviction enlivened our debates. He was an unconventional character, full of colour and verve. I will keep in my mind his image as a “fighting character”.

Jean-Jacques LERRANT

Many of us consulted him, sure of his erudition and his passionate fairness (…) Moussa’s warm voice, that gaze of torment and fraternity – I am not about to forget them.

Bertrand Poirot-Delpech