Published in Germany in 1979, the cult book ‘Christiane F., 13, Drug Addict, Prostitute…’ tells the true story of Christiane Felscherinow, who at 13 years old, plunged into the abyss of drug addiction and prostitution. As a teenager, Myrthe Vermeulen identified with this deeply scarred figure, seeing in her both her passion for life and her fear of death.

The harsh reality faced by young Berliners, children of the war and the Wall, resonates with the experiences of her own generation, confronted with the climate crisis and a retreat into identity. Christiane F.’s adolescence unfolds in the magnetic shadow of David Bowie, while the teenage Myrthe Vermeulen is consumed by the ghost of Christiane.

In telling this story, the young actress from La Belle Troupe des Amandiers (2021-24 cohort) invents a dizzying play of mirrors, where identities intersect, split and overlap. There’s Myrthe, the author. Eva, her fictional double, who’s convinced she’s the reincarnation of Christiane F. Christiane, inseparable from Babsi, her friend who died of an overdose. And to add to the confusion, Myrthe entrusts her role to Élise de Gaudemaris, her alter ego and accomplice from La Belle Troupe, who portrays Eva on stage. In this intricate web, the “I” perpetually transforms into someone else.