Italian Premiere
by Marivaux
director Luc Bondy
assistant director
Sophie Lecarpentier
dramaturgy Dieter Sturm
set and lighting design
Karl-Ernst Herrmann
sound design André Serré
costume design Moidele Bickel
set and lighting assistants
Claudia Jenatsch
Jean-Luc Chanonat
costume assistant Amélie Haas
make-up, hair Cécile Kretschmar
artistic collaboration Geoffrey Layton
accessories Yann Dury
technical coordination Eric Proust
cast
Pascal Bongard, Audrey Bonnet,
Clotilde Hesme, Roger Jendly,
Roch Leibovici, Micha Lescot
co-production
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne,
Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers, Wiener Festwochen, RuhrTriennale,
MC2: Grenoble Scène nationale, Nouveau Théâtre d’Angers - Centre dramatique national des Pays de Loire, Théâtre de Caen,
Festival d’Automne à Paris
delegated production
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
Worldwide debut on Novermber 17, 2007 at the Nanterre-Amandiers Theater | Written by Marivaux in 1727 for the Comédiens-Français, today the play is revisited by highly talented actors eager to explore new artistic territories.
The play opens on the suffering of a woman. The Marquise has just remained a widow. “Nothing shall ever console me,” she tells her frightened maid. Even a Chevalier has lost his love. Angelica, locked up in a convent to avoid a fixed wedding, shall never be his and the honest man has decided to find shelter in his hometown and end his suffering. When the two meet by chance, they “recognize” their suffering and in that precise moment, a question thrills Marivaux: how does love begin? Why does Cupid shoot his arrow? The encounter between the Marquise and the Chevalier develops into a complex plot, while other relations, on different social levels, begin as well, such as the relation between the servants Limette and Lubin. Marivaux and Bondy find themselves far in time and realize that social positions, elegant seductions, or language aren’t important in love: in the deepest of each human being, in spite of the world’s civilization, there’s an irreducible, primitive, animal aspect made of instinct, thrusts, desires. And that’s the charm and fascination of it all. |
