Download macondo / erendira - Rhône

18 rue Jules Vallès
69100 Villeurbanne
Tél + 33 (0)4 78 24 13 27
Fax +33 (0)4 37 24 19 89
[email protected]
www.premieracte.net
MACONDO / ERENDIRA
THE DIPTYCH
Adapted from "The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and her Heartless
Grandmother " by
GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
www.erendira.fr
CONTACT PREMIER ACTE
[email protected]
Artistic Director :
Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian / [email protected]
Administrator :
Claude Tabouret / [email protected]
Tour Manager :
Caroline Pellerin / [email protected]
Technical Manager :
Stephen Vernay / [email protected]
Press & Marketing :
Marie Gauthier / [email protected]
Phone :
00 33 (0)4 78 24 13 27
Adress :
18, rue Jules Vallès
69100 VILLEURBANNE
FRANCE
www.premieracte.net
PREMIER ACTE
A THEATRE COMPANY AND A SCHOOL
The ‘Premier Acte’ Theatre Company was founded out of the need to tell
the stories of our time and to show that the theatre could be a place to
learn vigilance and clear-sightedness. Since ‘Avril’, in 1985, a play
about genocide observed from France, Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian has
consistently shown his leaning towards contemporary writing and plays.
The need to tell of tragedies both past and present has led him to direct
works such as ‘La Chunga’ by Mario Vargas-Llosa (1993), or ‘Claude
Gueux’ by Victor Hugo (2007). In working on plays such as Tennessee
Williams’ ‘The Glass Menagerie’ (1989) or Chekhov’s ‘Three Sisters’
(2002), he shows his interest in individuals and their relationship with
society as a whole. More recently the ‘Macondo/ Erendira’ diptych (play
in two parts) based on the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez (2004/2005)
and ‘Don Quixote - Episode 2’ based on the work of Cervantes (2008)
focus on the exploration of visual forms and beauty.
Most of his theatrical adaptations are inspired by human content of
novels, and the universality of poetry. So far, twenty-one of his twentyseven productions come from original or unpublished works.
In addition the Company has been running a school since the year
2000. The ‘Ecole Premier Acte’ offers amateur workshops, an Acting
Apprenticeship Course and an Acting Studio for professional actors.
And its aim is to open its doors to ever more people…
‘Premier Acte’ abroad > Since it was founded, ‘Premier Acte’ and its director have made working abroad a key focus.
So far fifteen countries on four continents have welcomed the Company and its School. These are primarily
underprivieged or war-torn countries: Iran, Israel, Armenia, Japan and Vietnam in Asia; Morocco in Africa; Quebec in the
Americas; Ukraine, Poland, Lebanon and Greece in Europe.
Interacting with different cultures and customs and seeing at first-hand the suffering of the countries that they’ve visited
has undoubtedly helped the Company to understand the power of theatre as tool for mutual comprehension and for living
and working together in the world…
www.erendira.fr
SARKIS TCHEUMLEKDJIAN
DIRECTOR AND TEACHER
After studying at the ‘Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique’ in Lyon from 1982
to 1984, Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian continued his training in Israel, Japan,
Ukraine and France.
In 1985, he founded the ‘Premier Acte’ Company with Michel Touitou,
Catherine Vial and Patrick Auzet-Magri, and became its playwright and
director. In 2000, he launched the ‘Ecole Premier Acte’, devoted to
theatrical research and education. He has directed more than thirty-five
shows since 1985, all of which he either wrote or adapted for the stage,
consistently favouring contemporary writing and plays, original or
unpublished texts.
Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
His most recent productions have been ‘Don Quixote - Episode 2’ based
on the Cervantes novel in 2008; ‘Claude Gueux’ based on Victor Hugo’s
story in 2007; ‘Macondo’ and ‘Erendira’, a diptych based on the world of
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which has been touring in France and abroad
since 2005. He has also directed Molière’s ‘Tartuffe’ in Vietnamese at
the Hanoi Opera, with students from the ‘Ecole Nationale de Théâtre et
de Cinéma du Vietnam’, and this production has been on tour since
2004.
Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian is driven by the desire and the need to
communicate and keeps moving forward with a committed team, running
artistic and educational projects around the world, in particular in
Ukraine, Vietnam, Israel, Morocco, Armenia, Poland and the United Arab
Emirates. He has been a fellow of the ‘Ecole Nationale Supérieure des
Arts et Techniques du Théâtre’ (ENSATT) Theatre School since 2005
and President of Zartong, a traditional Armenian Music School since
October 2007.
www.erendira.fr
THE DIPTYCH
MACONDO/ ERENDIRA
The Garcia-Marquez diptych (play in two parts) turns the spotlight on
seven of the short stories that stand out in the collection ‘The Incredible
and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother’.
FIRST HALF – MACONDO (55 mins)
Sat in a boat beached in the desert, two story-tellers tell fantastical tales
of the village of Macando. The story of ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous
Wings‘, an asthmatic angel who loses his feathers and is thrown down
to earth by a storm. The story of Estéban, ‘The Handsomest Drowned
Man in the World‘ stranded on a beach… Or ‘The Incredible and Sad
Tale of Innocent Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother’ which stuns
the whole village…Erendira is seen through a net, slowly waking up,
trembling all over. And she recalls her sad story…
SECOND HALF – ERENDIRA (1h 05m)
In a misty atmosphere evocative of the sad events to come, the storytellers take up the tale. Orphaned by her father and mother, the young
and beautiful Erendira is raised by her grandmother, a mythical and
heartless character, for whom she works. One evening, exhausted from
her hard labour, Erendira falls asleep without putting out the candle. In
the morning, the beautiful house is nothing but ashes. To repay her
grandmother, Erendira obeys her and becomes a prostitute...
.
www.erendira.fr
S TA G I N G T H E D I P T Y C H
The diptych
The two halves of the diptych are held together by the two story-tellers.
They move from one story to the other, confuse the past and the
present, dream and reality, the dead and the living. Gabriel Garcia
Marquez’s stories lend themselves wonderfully to this approach. They
are one and the same story, retold over and again but always different,
partially developed and explored. It has been very easy to dovetail the
two halves of the diptych, thanks to Marquez’s well-known ‘magical
realism’.
Imagery
I allowed myself to use and to adapt, as in a dream, a number of
images that come from the seven fables in the collection - the image of
a bandstand spinning on the bottom of the sea, the old man with two
large wings, or those fish floating in the air like confetti...
Audio imagery
Just as much as the text, music is a key factor in my work, especially
when I’m adapting a novel for the stage. I believe that music is vital
nourishment for the audience. It is like that magnificent backdrop which
does not necessarily tell you all the details. As for recorded sound
effects and those on stage in the show, they are orchestrated such that
the audience’s imagination is constantly impacted on two powerful
levels, through sight and through sound.
The stage
I chose an empty stage because it is a wonderful place for dreams and
the imagination to come alive, a blank page on which the poetry can
work its magic…
One dream to another
With ‘Macondo’ and ‘Erendira’, I want to offer the audience a symphony
of sound and visual effects, an escape into a world that is not limited by
time or space, a world where the smallest details of the actors’ words,
voices, movements and poses are carefully chosen for their beauty.
www.erendira.fr
PRESS REVIEWS AND CUTTINGS
MACONDO
Spellbinding! A total success – one of the most beautiful dream
machines that theatre has offered. The whole thing conspires to turn
us into delighted children who beg for more, again and again...
Trina Mounier – Lyon Poche
A show of exceptional beauty, poetry and bittersweet laughter. You
will be smiling from the opening imagery until the very end...
Michèle Hautois - Le Progrès
This is the kind of theatre we want to see again and again, where the
fantastic and the extraordinary reveal our own wanderlust, where
ridiculous and magnificent heroes become our secret mirrors…
Pascale Clavel - 491
Extraordinary stories. All literary and theatrical artistry is brought
together in this show that is both funny and pure. Not to be missed !
Vinvent Raymond - Tribune de Lyon
ERENDIRA
The most beautiful show I have seen this season. And one of the most
magical, too, taking the audience into a dream world.
Nelly Gabriel - Lyon Figaro
Total and full immersion in happiness from the very beginning. This is
the kind of theatre we want to see again and again.
Pascale Clavel - 491
Poetic visions and musical journeys collide to draw you into a magical
dream world bursting with surprises and perils.
Marc Weinachter - Tageblatt
www.erendira.fr
OTHER SHOWS ON TOUR
CLAUDE GUEUX
“On 7th November 1831, Claude Gueux, a hardened thief, imprisoned
in Clairvaux central prison, kills Monsieur Delacelle, the workshop
manager, in front of the other prisoners, who cannot contain their
delight. His trial begins in March 1832 before the Court of Assizes in
Troyes. He is condemned to death and executed in June of the same
year.”
Victor Hugo
We see Claude Gueux’s cell in centre stage. The condemned man’s
poetic inner state of mind is spelt out by the musicians’ fingers, while the
humiliation and torture that he must undergo are expressed on the
electric guitar. Through a minimal stage set, Claude Gueux reveals the
mechanisms of social brutality whose only response to destitution is
repression.
DON QUIXOTE - EPISODE 2
Having talked to Cervantes, the author of “episode 1 of his adventures”,
and reassured himself of Sancho’s loyalty, Don Quixote agrees to get
back in the saddle again, on condition of the incomparable Dulcinée’s
blessing “whom he has not had the honour of meeting in the first part of
his adventures”. Under the omniscient gaze of Cervantes the two paper
heroes set off on their adventures…
Don Quixote and Sancho are sculpted and choreographed as two
‘marionettes‘ from Cervantes’ dreams, who here plays the role of the
puppeteer. In his hands, the wind can be a fan, and the sun an elegant
replacement for a huge spotlight. From this starting point, the audience
watches the fable played out on stage before them…
www.erendira.fr
PREMIER A C T E ’ S H O W S
1985 - "AVRIL" by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
1986 - "LEGITIME DEMENCE" by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
1987 - "AU BAR DES ÂMES PERDUES" by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
1988 - "LES CIGALES" by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
1989 - "LA MENAGERIE DE VERRE" by Tennessee Williams
1990 ... 2007 - "LA VOIX HUMAINE" by Jean Cocteau
"Avril" 1985
1991 - "BENT" by Martin Sherman
1991 - 1992 - "VARTABED" by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
1993 - "HAROLD ET GUILLAUME" text in french and english by Jan Farquasson
1993 - "LA CHUNGA" by Mario Vargas-Llosa
1993 - 1994 - "LA DEMANDE EN MARIAGE" by Anton Tchekhov, adapted by Sarkis
Tcheumlekdjian
"La Voix Humaine" 1990
1993 - "LE MOINE APOSTAT" by Antony Shafton, adapted by Eric Goria and Sarkis
Tcheumlekdjian
1994 - "LA MOUETTE" by Anton Tchekhov
1995 - Trilogie SAINT GENET "DELINQUANT !" , "CONDAMNE !" , "POETE !"
by Jean Genet, adapted by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
1995 - "LES BONNES" by Jean Genet, adapted by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
1997 - "ET UNE NUIT" by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
1998 - "EGO MONSTRE" and "LE VOYAGEUR DE MINUIT" by Sayd Bahodine
"La
Chunga" 1993
Majrouh, adapted by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian and Catherine Vial
1998 - "LE RIRE DES AMANTS" by Sayd Bahodine Majrouh, adapted by Sarkis
Tcheumlekdjian
2000 - "CALIGULA" by Albert Camus
2001 - "DON JUAN(S)" adapted by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian, by Milosz, Molière, Da
Ponte-Mozart, Pouchkine, Lenau
"Les Trois Soeurs" 2002
2002 - "LES TROIS SOEURS" by Anton Tchekhov
2003 - "SHAFTON" inspired from the novel "Le Moine Apostat" by Anthony Shafton,
adapted by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
2004 / 2005 - "MACONDO" and
"ERENDIRA" from
"L'incroyable et triste
histoire de la candide Erendira et de sa grand-mère diabolique" by Gabriel Garcia
Marquez. Adapted by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
2006 - "LES MEFAITS DU MARIAGE" by Anton Tchekhov, adapted by Sarkis
Tcheumlekdjian
2007 - "CLAUDE GUEUX" by Victor Hugo, adapted by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian
"Don Quichotte - Tome 2" 2008
2008 - "DON QUICHOTTE - TOME 2" by Cervantès, adapted by Sarkis Tcheumlekdjian