CREATION FROM SEPTEMBER 26 TO 28, 2017 AT THE PARIS NATIONAL CONSERVATORY OF DRAMATIC ART
"And they too rose up lightly and straight a lovely sight to see: all as one,
the old women and the young and the unmarried girls,
First they let their hair fall loose, downover their shoulders."
- The Bacchae, third episode.
A choir of voices from afar, singing the theater of the feminine, with all its transgressive force. Dionysus, the stranger, the double, at once divine and mortal, man and woman, hero and executioner, plays all the strings of this drama in which he is both author and the main actor. Otherness, metamorphosis and madness: the very heart of theater!
For this third and final part of the Poetics of voice and sound spaces project, it was time to look at the original choral ensemble: the Ancient Greek chorus. Embracing it from the perspective of today’s theater whilst still bearing in mind the history- this play was written more than 2.400 years ago.
How should the Greek chorus be staged today? On increasingly empty theater stages, what challenges face the chorus? Its absence is notable in contemporary productions of the great works of antiquity despite being the “raison d’être” of tragedy, the essence and central dramaturgical tool of Greek theater.
This performance is dedicated to the memory of Esther Marty Kouyaté and Julie Noak.
Credits
Based on Euripides
Translation, adaptation, staging, musical direction and stage design: Marcus Borja
Translation assistant: Jean Massé
Lights: Gabriele Smiriglia
Sound design: Lucas Lelièvre
Costume designer: Laurence Ayi
Props: Hélène Thomas
Choreographies: Marcia Duarte
Body preparation: Flávia Lorenzi
Voice preparation: Sophie Canet, Ayana Fuentes Uno & Myriam Jarmache
Ancient Greek pronunciation: Magdalena Ioannidi
Assistant director: Emilie Bouyssou, Solène Petit & David Suzanne
Stage management: Dominique Nocereau
Stage crew: François Rey
Seamstress: Vinca Alonso
Dresser: Maxence Rapetit-Maus
With
Charlotte Avias, Victorine Badiane, Augustin Bouchacourt, Lucie Brandsma, Sophie Canet, Geoffrey Carey, Marie-Julie Chalu, Clémence Chatagnon, Valeria Dafarra, Alice Delagrave, Camille Duquesne, Ayana Fuentes Uno, François Gardeil, Haifa Geries, Lola Gutierrez, Magdalini Ioannidi, Myriam Jarmache, Matilda Kime, Maxime Le Gac-Olanié, Natacha Leytier, Joël Lokossou, Flávia Lorenzi, Esther Marty Kouyaté, Laurence Masliah, Perrine Megret, Marie Micla, Makeda Monnet, Anna de Montgolfier, Anaïs Muller, Raphaël Naasz, Laure Nathan, Julie Noack, Posoula Palaiologou, Agathe Paysant, Wilda Philippe, Monika Rusz, Jacqueline Samulon, Valentina Sanseverino, Charles Ségard-Noirclère, Marie-Françoise Séjourné, Aurore Soudieux, Venia Stamatiadi, David Suzanne and Sophie Zafari
And the percussionists of the Maracatu Nação Oju Obá
Mestre Letho Nascimento, Anaïs de Lattre, Sandra Dias, Guylaine Rivera, Virginie Villette, Syrielle Guignard, Stéphanie Torremocha, Valérie Rozet, Isabelle Quernel and Milady Mendes
Special thanks to
Alisson Araújo, Charles Chauvet, Juliette Dragon, Sylvie Deguy, Jean-François Dusigne, Romain Piana, Sigfrido Rivera
© Photo credit: Christophe Raynaud de Lage