Download Princess Maleine Maurice Maeterlinck

COMPAGNIE
DIVINE
COMEDIEwww.compagniedivinecomedie.com
Princess Maleine
Maurice Maeterlinck
Croisements 2011 - China
© Yan Li
Compagnie Divine Comedie, 9 rue Robert Blache – 75010 Paris
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09 54 49 06 12 - 06 60 82 74 39 - [email protected]
Drawings : Tormod Lindgren
Pictures : Tormod Lindgren and Yan Li
A project totally unusal in the Chinese theatre landscape ..............................................5
The meeting of a script and a human reality ..................................................................7
How actors influence the artistic direction of the project...............................................9
A program for universities............................................................................................13
Jean-Christophe Blondel, Artistic Director ..................................................................14
Tormod Lindgren, Set and Costumes Designer............................................................14
Malgven Gerbes, choreographer...................................................................................15
David Brandstätter, choreographer...............................................................................15
Special Price – Paris City .............................................................................................16
Croisements Festival – Ambassy Letter .......................................................................16
About Princesse Maleine in Spring 2010 .....................................................................17
2/17
During my travels and tours in China, I met an association of blind people.They
were playing a play with a well-known Chinese director, Lin Zhaohua. They
wanted to prove that the blind people, invisible in China and confined to some
skilled trades (massage, fortune-tellers ...) might have something to give to the
world on an artistic level. They asked me to direct their second creation.
I suggested the Princess Maleine Maurice Maeterlinck. We organized a casting
on the national level during the month of April 2009, then repeated one month
and a half this summer. Our show is almost ready.
In this document, I try to describe the motives of the work, and the beauty, the
relevance, of this encounter between a script and a troupe of actors truly
staggering. I also try to describe the difficulties the project has encountered in
China. After three months of work, we believe that only an international tour
may help overcome barriers of Chinese society. After such atour, this show
would be well received in its own country. And we think this show can touch the
audience beyond China, because of the beauty of his performance, and also
because of the powerful portrait of a country he holds inside.
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© Yan Li
A project totally unusal in the Chinese theatre landscape
Shocking : these players have been shocking at each public rehearsal we’ve done between
May and August, in front of people from different backgrounds: Chinese theater
professionals, managers philanthropic organizations, artists of alternative networks, and
sponsors. All have discovered a way of playing unexpected on the Chinese scenes.The
sponsors have given us their support. But neither the institutional theatre professionnals, or
charity organizations, could not support us for this work, because it was too inconsistent with
their
conception
of
theater.
These players do not only move the audience, they also move some conceptions about theatre.
'Alternative' artists, have been touched by what was happening on stage, but feel disconnected
from this author who’s too spiritual or aesthetic to them. The battle of "underground" network
needs sometimes more explicit political messages. But Li Zhen Hue, the saxophonist of the
team, is an improvisational musician who works in these alternative networks, as well as the
player of Gu Qin Wu Na, who had participated in Partage de Midi two years ago.
The academic artists have sometimes a problem with our work because it give to some basic
questions (like the place of the actor on stage as an artist) answers witch are different to the
main ways to answer in China. Academic artist claimed their place by a long-accumulated
technical knowledge - called there Stanislavskian school. This knowledge is challenged by
those blind and their different way to play, less narrative, more sober and more
autobiographical, and whose director, and then the audience, accepts the actor defaults.
This contrasts with the official game and reveals the weaknesses of some old conventions
witch are sometime, to me, too much considered as the only one way to play. We worked in
April 09 with a producer who offered us the great chance to play at the National Theatre in
Beijing. After one month, he wanted to replace the blind actors by professional actors. I
refused ... So we finally didn’t work together and then they made another Princess Maleine
without us…
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© Tormod Lindgren
6/17
Nonprofit groups are happy to see the blind people on stage, but mainly in some special
events “for blinds”, concert, poetry reading in front of the logo of the organization. Blind
people may have talent, but they have to stay “under” the organizers. A theatre team that
claims its artistic identity will have problems to be supported by a charity association. We
also have tried without success.
We started this work with the simple desire to meet each other on stage. The problems we
have have made us more motivated, and radicalized our human and artistic choices. Now the
work is almost done and we want to show it, and through it, to show this community, to the
Chinese audience and to the world.
© Yan Li
The meeting of a script and a human reality
I had already directed Princess Maleine in 1999. I appreciated what this work tells of the
century it has been through, this atmosphere of kings out of control, full of desire, these
crowds stray and helpless, these fast and massive destructions, witch were foreshadowing the
desolation of modern warfares. But more fundamentally, there is in Maeterlinck a tragic
reversal of the classical morality of the tales: here, the human’s work, whatever virtuous or
criminal, meets a blind fate. There is a desire to overcome any moral or political message to
invite the us to renew a relationship with the signs that surround us. These signs come from
from nature around us or from our unconscious – and the ones that can serve as a mirror to the
others.
This recognition of a blind destiny, desire plays a less explicit signs around us, still needed
today. Especially in contemporary Asia, which is like Europe at the time of Maeterlinck,
plunged into an obsession with materialism, consumerism and positivist faith with the only
profit and progress. I think we could see and introspective works fantastic David Lynch,
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Chinese director Zhang Ke, a renewal of writing symbolist
poetry the same vein with similar deep gaps.
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I
8/17
In China, having no clear message hurts the way of thinking witch is learned at school, witch
tells that anything means just one thing that everybody has to know or understand. Each
Maeterlink symbol can enter in a specific relation to anybody, and everybody is invited to do
his own connections and interpretations. Symbolism is, by itself, a subversive apology of
individuality. We find the same opposition between the Chinese classical way of playing,
witch is fully explicit, and the way the blind actors play, witch is full of mystery.
These actors are the shadow of Chinese society that I discovered during my first trips. Behind
the active urban youth, running and running for social advancement, these people are left out
of the Great Leap Forward. The olders are, of course (the oldest in China are also the poorest),
but also the youngers , who come from Beijing or other provinces, and that disability leave
aside, whatever their social origin.
The casting work, throughout the month of April, with 60 blind people from across China,
have been the opportunity to listen strong and accurate commentaries on the script. The script
resonated with their experience of life. To see or not see, physically, of course, but also to see
how your can loose the control of your destiny, to feel the blindness of fate that can befall
without justice, all these thing that echoed in them, far from the dominant idea that in life,
success always comes with merit.
But the sensuality of the text also spoke to them a lot. The characters in the play are often too
blind to see what’s important for their lives, but their body expresses that spirit does not want
to accept, feeling differently around the world (water on the eyes, the sun light like milk on
the hands), and expressing with strong inside movements (disease, sweat, pallor on his face,
shivering with cold or hot). From the first cast rehearsals, I saw the happiness and the ability
of these performers to show on stage this unknown part of their life, this relationship so acute
between their bodies and the world around.
© Yan Li
How actors influence the artistic direction of the project
This link between the body life and the world was the starting point of this theater project.
We worked during one month with 60 blind persons to finally do the cast of 9 persons. , we
selected 9 and have given them the roles they matched best. The four vacant roles were
entrusted to professionals (three actors, a musician).There is no predetermined relationship
between the role and the disability of the actor, but a work of givine the roles to the persons
who fit the role for the body, the voice, the capabilities
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© Tormod Lindgren
10/17
We then had to invent for each sequence of the play specific rules governing impulses,
movements, glances.
For example, the Prince, played by a seeing actor, is guided through the forest of his mind by
the wise Angus, who is played by a blind man. The audience understands that the real
blindness is not in the eyes. Another example : the King Marcellus tries to convince her
daughter to a marriage that will save the kingdom from a terrible sudden war. She speaks
barely, he is blind, he speaks to the place from which comes her words, but every time, she is
already gone away. This relates in body and space the difficult relationship of the man to his
destiny, wich is symbolized by this young girl. The actress who plays Maleine is also blind,
but its movements are surprisingly safe: it tells how the forces that guide us are invisible.
Anytime in our performance, the work of the audience is to analyse the rules of each
sequence, which still illuminates the understanding of the text.
But the way these blind actors play is also very exciting. They do not know the codes often
overloaded by professional actors. Their disability has cut them from this cultural
baggage. They are not too focused on the psychology of the character, they accept, even if it
is difficult to understand, to consider the utility of their actions and positions into the
collective process
Our benchmarks are rhythmic and music. And of course, we do a thorough job of reading, like
all my previous works, exploring the possible meanings of words, and also, the effects of their
structure, very important here. I follow this analysis with fables and facts that link the actor,
sometimes to realities witch can be violent, and sometimes, on the opposite, to thin feelings
that are about the only fact of living : listenning, breathing…
On stage, professionals bring their skills and their eyes. They are the pillars of the
movements. With the musician, In 2005, I have direct The Name, a Jon Fosse play. The actors
of this play were "crossed" by the music of percussionist Edward Perraud, were summoned to
delegate some of the musician impulses play, as do these musicians in a group improvisation.
I try to continue this research here with Li Zhen Hue.
Traditionally, the professional actor decides sometimes too much. He knows the effect of his
facial expressions. The actor blind, less... He’s forced, by the constant danger around in daily
life, to develop a hypersensitive listening. He receives each small signal. And his body, his
face, his voice, are a true reflection of every reception. At the same time, the absence of light
in the eyes, or the difference of blind eyes, make us realize that whatever we belive that we
can see in the other’s eyes, the other’s soul is a great mistery.
Looking at what happens, do not explain, say its inaccessible part : it could be the
specification of the actor in Maeterlinck. In our company, everybody observe this
specification - but in a striking contrast between the expressiveness of some of them, and the
extreme simplicity of others. Their nature, their "inside thinking machines" are all different,
singular. They formed a band less homogeneous than the academic Chinese companies, closer
to the western Valere Novarina, Joel Pommerat or Pipo del Bono companies : A sample of
humanity.
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© Tormod Lindgren
12/17
© Yan Li
A program for universities
In 2009, we thought that Claudel could be a tool for opening students to French language and
Western culture. The play, performed in French, was difficult because of the language of
Claudel. But it has raised many debates. The following year, an international symposium was
held in Wuhan on Paul Claudel, proof that the author so difficult of access creates a genuine
academic interest.
The show presented here will be played in Chinese with French subtitles. Then everybody
will have a simple access to the show. The text is also of great literary merit, but in a much
simpler language. So we can touch a very large audience.
Text can also be studied in advance by students. The simplicity of the language allows
students to interact with basic elements of literary culture and Western theatrical. Maeterlinck
makes a synthesis of different traditions, he rewrote the great myths of the theater.
It is inspired by tales (Grimm), Shakespeare (Hamlet, Lady Macbeth), mythology (the myth
of Phaedra), the birth of the staging and modern theater, (symbolism, breaking stanislavskian
play codes). This intertextuality is also an opportunity to explore these myths and rewrites
from Antiquity to Modernity.
On these issues, we can prepare some conferences to give the public the tools to fully
appreciate and relate to what is taught. For example: the myth of Phaedra in the theater, the
influence of Shakespeare in nineteenth-century western theater, Symbolism and the advent of
the staging
Commitment proposal
The university is committed to
• Find a theatre
• Housing/meals (15 people). 4
nights (ok in 2 or 3 beds bedrooms)
• Transportation team and equipment
from the previous city: 7000 RMB
Part. artist salary: 6000 RMB
The company is committed to
•
•
•
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2 performances
3 half-a-day of intervention:
conference, workshop, debate
Meetings with the artists
© Tormod Lindgren
Jean-Christophe Blondel, Artistic Director
Born in 1970, JC Blondel has studied as en engineer before deciding to work as a theatre
artist. He’s accepted to the Drama High School of Paris. He has directed important French
actors like Jean Davy, Laurence Mayor, Michel Baudinat, but also musicians (the
improvisation drummer Edward Perraud, and also the Gu Qin master WU NA), and puppet
players. He was dramaturg for Yoshi Oïda (The Maids, Dance-Theatre play), Documentary
film maker for Laurence Mayor (Damas Way, Strindberg), and invited director for different
companies (puppet players Clandestines Ficelles, Dialogos ancient music group, Utrecht
Festival). He direct plays of Maeterlinck, Lagarce, Ibsen, Borgès, Bernhardt, Sorokine,
Erasme, an also non spoken plays (Stravinsky). Within 10 years of work, he had succeeded in
working with all the important institution partners of his country, and his last production,
Partage de Midi, was co-produced by Culture Ministery, the ADAMI, le National Young
Theatre, and the principal local government organizations.
Partage de Midi has toured in China for one month in 2009, for « Croisements » festival,
supported by firms (EDF, France Telecom), universities (Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai,
Guangzhou, Wuhan), Central Academy of Drama of Beijing. This experience gave to Chinese
partners the desire to work with him. Were organized two workshops for Chinese and French
studients, (in Guangzhou during 3 weeks in August 2008, in Beijing during 3 weeks in
August 2010), and also the participation to an international conference on Paul Claudel in
Wuhan University.
Tormod Lindgren, Set and Costumes Designer
After the National School of Arts of Oslo, and the Central Saint Martin College of Art and
Design – Londres, Tormod Lindgren has been working since 10 years as costumes designer,
video designer, puppet builder and set designer for theatre and dance. In France, he designs
the costumes for Palatins of Rameau (Montalvo / Hervieu, Châtelet). In Norway, he works
with Kjersti Alveberg and Emilia Adelöv (dance) and at the National Theatre of Skien, and at
the Black Box of Oslo, and also at the Grusomhetens teater and the National Theatre of Oslo.
Tormod has won the Hedda 2008 price for his set design of the dance play « @lice ».
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© Tormod Lindgren
Malgven Gerbes, choreographer
Malgven Gerbes is born in 1979 in France. She studied architecture in Paris in ENSAAMA
(Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et Métiers d'Arts), and worked two years as
architect in Le Bon Marché Paris (Group LVMH). She graduated in choreography in ArtEz
Arnhem (former EDDC) in the Netherlands. In Arnhem she investigated in her personal
movement research based on release technique. She is now based in Berlin and in constant
travels. She continues her research on the medium of dance in own works and in collaboration
with David Brandstätter. Malgven Gerbes choreographed and performed for group
collaborative projects in Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf, in the Forum Freies Theater in
Düsseldorf, for the Miryang Summer Festival in Korea, the Seoul Performing Arts Festival.,
among others. She was guest professor for one semester in the choreographic department at
the Korean National University of the Arts (KNUA) in autumn 2007, in the choreographic
department of ArtEZ Arnhem in spring 2008, in Dartington College of arts - UK in 2009.
David Brandstätter, choreographer
Born 1979 in Wuppertal Germany, David Brandstätter grew up in Frankfurt and studied
applied music science in Hamburg. From the age of 15 he worked internationally as a juggler
and unicyclist, and became a practitioner of traditional Japanese martial arts. In 2001, he
started his studies of choreography in Arnhem at the European Dance Development Centre
(now called ArtEZ). During his studies he met Seung Hee Yang and Malgven Gerbes who
became his main collaborators at the time. He concentrated his research on the development
of contact improvisation towards choreographic structures, and as a tool to bring conceptual
thought and movement desires together. He graduated in 2005. Besides the work for s h i f t s
and among other smaller works, he has organised different artistic exchange projects for
choreography, improvisation and contact improvisation in Berlin, and has taught contact
improvisation and choreography at: Tanzfabrik Berlin, Fabrik Potsdam, Ernst Busch
Hochschule für Schauspielkunst, Statdtheater Düsseldorf, ArtEZ Arnhem NL, Korean
National University of Arts Seoul, Dartington College of arts - UK, Session House Tokyo,
and elsewhere.
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Extrait du site Paris.fr
Special Price – Paris City
16/17
Croisements Festival – Ambassy Letter
About Princesse Maleine été 2010
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