A NEW MUSICAL THEATER WORK

Directed by Macha Makeïeff Inspired by Lewis Carroll

Opening at the Festival d’Avignon – La FabricA 14 to 22 July 2019 A NEW MUSICAL THEATER WORK

14 TO 22 JULY 2019 Directed by Macha Makeïeff inspired by Lewis Carroll Performed by Geoffrey Carey, Caroline Espargilière, Vanessa Fonte, Clément Griffault, Jan Peters, Geoffroy Rondeau et avec Rosemary Standley ! Images of Michka Wallon

Adapted and devised by Macha Makeïeff and Gaëlle Hermant Staging, costumes and set design Macha Makeïeff Lights Jean Bellorini Sound Sébastien Trouvé Music Clément Griffault Hair & Makeup Cécile Kretschmar Magic Raphaël Navarro assisted by Arthur Chauvaudret and Antoine Terrieux Choreography Guillaume Siard Assistant Director Gaëlle Hermant Assistant Set Designer Clémence Bezat Assistant Costume Designer Claudine Crauland Iconography Clément Vial Stage Management André Neri English Language Consultant Camilla Barnes Pavillon Bosio Interns Élise Leleu, Xufei Liu, Céline Pagès Interns Pauline Adeline, Marianne Barrouillet, Juliette Boisseau, Elsa Markou PHD Film Researcher Elio Della Noce producer La Criée Théâtre national de Marseille coproducers Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre Gérard Philipe Centre dramatique national de Saint-Denis, Maison de la Culture d’Amiens – Pôle européen de création et de production in collaboration with Pavillon Bosio – École supérieure d’arts plastiques de la Ville de Monaco

The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll, translated by Jacques Roubaud, published by Gallimard ON TOUR 19/20 27 september > 13 october 21 > 22 november 19 > 21 december Théâtre Gérard Philipe, Saint Denis Liberté Scéne nationale, Toulon TNN, Nice 17 > 19 october 27 november > 7 december 7 > 11 january 2020 Le Quai, Angers La Criée, Marseille Les Célestins, Lyon 13 > 14 november 11 > 13 december Le Grand R, La Roche-sur-Yon Scène Nationale Sud Aquitaine, Bayonne Titre en corps 20

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And you, who do you think it was?

Well then, this genius, this Eccentric: was it Dodgson or Carroll? Charles or Lewis? Logic or nonsense? Investigation and mystery in Oxford! Speculation, gossip, and mockery of the author of Alice; pages torn from his diary, his notebooks burnt, every kind of denial; polite, awkward and sanctimonious Anglicans; hymns and inventories; pre-Raphaelite fantasies... But who was this son of a country parson – himself a deacon, a marginal yet a well-known man, a depressive tutor, polemicist and logician who invented the most extravagant tales? Isa Bowman the child-actress called him "Goosie", because he had the fussy charm of a bizarre old bachelor and because he wore grey gloves to hide the collodion stains on his hands. He was haunted by the enigma of childish innocence, a Victorian invention that gnawed at him, almost to the point of madness! He was obsessed by a sense of sin, a fantasy of English ladies and of outrageous old-child-friends; but also by strange talkative animals, by Humpty-Dumpty, the Cheshire Cat, the Snark, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, The Mad Hatter, the Dodo... he was obsessed by his Syzygy puzzles and all the phantasmagoria that start to dance when one sits too long on the parsonage bench… And over our heads hover Supernatural forms, chaotic and magical: fairies, ghosts and ectoplasm; souls caught on laboratory glass, the children of a melancholy God, vengeful prophets, and other miracles. Lewis Carroll, the nonsense poet, throws us out of our habitual patterns, leads us into conversations, through words written backwards and unsolved riddles… and we realise that, yes, life really is but a dream… Was Queen Victoria to blame for all this? Or was it Christ Church college, Oxford, and the Victorian morality imposed by an authoritarian, theologian father? For a very long time, whenever I read Lewis Carroll, I understood nothing… “Nonsense!” I thought… Was it because I found Alice unsympathetic and hard to grasp? Or was it because Charles-Lewis stammered from boyhood, was left-handed, had ten brothers and sisters, got bored in church, and didn’t get married? Or because of that matter of little girls and pictures, and because he wrote backwards and inverted the world…? But perhaps it was because of the sublime and musical mystery of the English language, because of a harmonium, and Martha’s great big feet, and a Salvation Army band… and because I really wanted to create a new show on account of George, my transparent brother… for you see, living life backwards is something I relate to, deeply. All this mechanical chaos, fiction, healthy nonsense, neuroses, dreams, joyful imagination, are extravagances to disarm Victorian conformism and domestic hypocrisy. A weapon against dangerous seriousness, a way of choosing the fairy-like rather than the so-called real. The language of Lewis must be sung, and it must be heard in all its glory. It is the language of a man who, despite the condemnation of the bishop of Oxford, enthusiastically attended pantomimes and theatre. Carroll’s language masters and transforms the world. Indeed he affirms: "what I tell you three times is true". And the actors who are to play Lewis vs Alice are timeless, gothic, and extravagant. They sing, dance, tell stories, and debate! They see visions and drink tea in the middle of nowhere. Utter fantasy! They celebrate a very British eccentricity, with a freedom of expression almost to the point of absurdity. A note from the Director, Macha Makeïeff Summer 2018

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Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll (whose real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was a British novelist, essayist, photographer and mathematician. His father was an Anglican priest, who had eleven children (of whom only two were married). All of the siblings were left-handed and seven of them (including Charles) suffered from a stutter. In 1851, he went up to Oxford University to read mathematics. Professor of mathematics at Christ Church College in Oxford, he was made a deacon in 1861 but did not go on to be ordained a priest. In 1856, he collaborated with The Train magazine, whose editor, Edmund Yates, chose for him, from among four pen-names proposed by Charles Dodgson, that of Lewis Carroll. He bought his first camera in on March 18, 1856. A few days later in Oxford, he went to Dean Liddell's garden at Christ Church College, to photograph the cathedral. There he met the Dean’s three young daughters, including Alice Liddell, his future inspiration, and took them as his photographic models. He soon became an expert photographer, and before long, very well known. In 1880, he abruptly abandoned photography. "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" (1866) was originally written to entertain Alice Liddell and her two sisters, daughters of the Dean of Christ Church. Alice's adventures "Through the Looking Glass" appeared in 1872, and "The Hunting of the Snark," a long parody poem, was published in 1876. All were illustrated by John Tenniel. "Sylvie and Bruno" was published in 1889: in this novel, Carroll explored almost every possible blend of humour and nonsense, while simultaneously covering his favourite themes: logic and its paradoxes, the gap between signified and signifiers. Under his real name, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, he published works of algebra and mathematical logic, as well as collections of riddles and verbal games. Titre en corps 20

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Macha Makeïeff

Macha Makeïeff, author, director and visual artist, is the Director of La Criée, Théâtre National de Marseille. Macha Makeïeff read literature at the Sorbonne, and art history at both the Art Institute of and the Marseille Conservatoire. Her first directing job was for Antoine Vitez. Macha Makeïeff, together with the actor-director Jérôme Deschamps, has staged over twenty shows in France and internationally. Together they founded “Les Films de mon Oncle”, dedicated to promoting Jacques Tati’s works. They directed Les Deschiens for Canal +. Macha Makeïeff was both the curator and scenographer for a Jacques Tati retrospective exhibition at the Cinémathèque Française. She has exhibited her own work at the Museum of Decorative Arts, and in museums throughout France. In 2014 she created the exhibition Péché Mignon, a joyful performance, which premiered at the Cartier Foundation and went on to tour. At La Criée in Marseille, Macha Makeïeff has staged Les Apaches, Ali Baba, Lumières d’Odessa by Philippe Fenwick, Trissotin ou Les Femmes Savantes by Molière, Les Âmes offensées #1 (Les Inuit) et #2 (Les Soussou) #3 (Les Massaï) based on the notebooks of the ethnologist Philippe Geslin; her latest new work is La Fuite! (Flight!) by Mikhail Bulgakov, of which a film treatment has been made. Macha Makeïeff designs the sets and costumes of her productions. She designed costumes for The Good Person of Szechwan, Kroum, Karamazov and Erismena, Rodelinda, Jean Bellorini's Un Instant, Bouvard et Pécuchet by Jérôme Deschamps, Sarah Bernhardt Fan Club by Juliette Deschamps in Perm, Russia. She has also directed several operas: Offenbach’s The Bandits, and Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Festival d’Aix en Provence; Mozart Short Cuts at the GTP; Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow, Moscow, Cheryomushki by Dmitri Shostakovich at the Opera de Lyon; La Calisto by Francesco Cavalli, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; at the Opéra Comique, Paris, L’Étoile by Emmanuel Chabrier, and Zampa by Hérold; Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tiresias) at the Opera de Lyon; Macha Makeïeff has collaborated with John Eliott Gardiner, William Christie, Louis Langrée, Christophe Rousset... Titre en corps 20

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Macha Makeïeff is published by Les Editions du Chêne, Séguier, Seuil and Actes Sud. She directed a theatre company, was artistic director of the Théâtre de Nîmes, and collaborated in the founding of Pavillon Bosio, a school of art and scenography. Her show Trissotin ou Les Femmes Savantes by Molière after a tour in China in March 2018 played at La Scala Paris in April 2019. Her 2017-18 staging of Bulgakov’s Flight! is reprised this season. Macha Makeïeff was the set designer for the exhibition Magnificent Venice!at the Grand Palais, Paris (September 2018 to January 2019); she designed a flag for the Cartier Foundation and the Boltanski exhibition in Shanghai. Macha Makeïeff founded the periodical of La Criée Théâtre National de Marseille, Écrits-Criée “CRI-CRI”, released in January 2019.

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Photo © Pascal Gely

Rosemary Standley

Rosemary Standley was born in Paris in 1979, and after graduating from the Sorbonne, she studied classical singing at the Music Conservatory of the 20th arrondissement of Paris under the tutelage of Sylvie Sullé. Lead vocalist of the group Moriarty since 1999, Rosemary has several projects ongoing: she sings in Private Domain, conducted by Laurence Equilbey a.k.a. Iko, bringing together musicians from different backgrounds, as part of le Printemps de Bourges festival. At that same festival in 2010, Camille, Jeanne Cherhal, Em- ily Loizeau, Olivia Ruiz, La Grande Sophie and Rosemary Standley performed under the name Les Françoises, a show arranged by Edith Fambuena and di- rected by Juliette Deschamps. Together with Brisa Roché and Ndidi Onukwulu, Rosemary participated in The Lightnin 3 project: in 2012, they recorded Morning, Noon and Night, a cover album produced by Toby Dammit, and performed at the Café de la Danse. In 2013, she sang in the musical A Queen of Heart directed by Juliette Deschamps which premiered in September at the Théâtre de la Bastille, Paris. A new cover album, Birds on a Wire, recorded with Brazilian cellist Dom La Nena, was released in 2014. The following year, Rosemary Standley recorded the album Love I Obey with Helstroffer’s Band, and went on tour with them. In 2016, she participated in the release of two albums, A Queen of Hearts, with Sylvain Griotto and Juliette De- schamps; and Zanz In Lanfer, with the Wati Watia Zorey Band, a tribute to Alain Péters, founded with Marjolaine Karlin and others. Geoffroy Rondeau

Geoffroy Rondeau trained at the Claude Mathieu school where he met Jean Bellorini and worked with him on L’Opérette imaginaire by Valère Novarina and in other productions of the company (Tempête sous un crâne adapted from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, Paroles gelées adapted from Rabelais, Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan). He has performed Shakespeare, Chekhov, Genet, Copi, several musicals (Jeux de mots laids pour gens bêtes adapted from Boby Lapointe), and shows for young audiences (Donkeyskin by Perrault, The Blue Bird by Maeterlinck...), as well as experimental work: Clair obscure pour un web spectacle based on Dennis Cooper’s Slut; and After the Flood by Gao Xingjian. He has worked on shows blending performance and video with Remy Yadam, Gerald Kurdian (L’Imagination adapted from Michel Foucault). He continues training in dance, singing, acting (with Claude Degliame and Yves-Noël Genod), mask work etc... In 2015 he performed in Macha Makeïeff’s staging of Moliere’s Les Femmes Savantes; in Karamazov directed by Jean Bellorini for the 2016 Avignon Festival; and in 2018 he produced his own one-man show based on Oscar Wilde’s essay The Soul of Man under Socialism.

Vanessa Fonte

Vanessa Fonte trained at the Claude Mathieu school in Paris and the Conserva- toire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique de Paris. In 2010 she performed with Michel Bouquet in Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid (playing Béline) and Ionesco’s Exit the King (playing Queen Mary), both directed by Georges Werler. Vanessa Fonte worked with Christine Berg’s troupe, Ici et Maintenant Théâtre, and performed in: Victor Hugo’s Hernani (Dona Sol); a cabaret based on Ray- mond Devos’s texts; Ibsen’s Peer Gynt. With the O’Brother collective, she per- formed alongside Isabelle Adjani in l’Amour et les Forêts, based on Eric Rein- hardt’s novel, directed by Laurent Bazin, and in Ci Siamo, directed by Arnaud Churin. She has participated in internships throughout Europe with the UTE (Union of European Theatres). Vanessa Fonte performed the role of Camille Claudel in a new play by Sophie Jabès; in Macha Makeïeff’s productions of Mo- liere’s Les Femmes Savantes and Bulgakov’s Flight!. Since 2017, she has been training as a Pole Dancer. Caroline Espargilière

Caroline Espargilière studied playwriting, stage direction and singing in the Unit- ed States. Back in France, she studied at the ​Charles Dullin Drama school and at the National Conservatory in Paris In the theatre, she starred in Saint Joan of the Stockyards by Brecht, directed by Titre en corps 20 Bernard Sobel; Agnes by Catherine Anne and The School of Wives by Molière, directed by Catherine Anne; After the Rain by Sergi Belbel, directed by Rodolphe Texte en corps 12 Corrion; Silence Travail! by Christelle Evita, directed by Hélène Poitevin; Brecht’s The Exception and the Rule, directed by François Gentil; An Untimely Visit by Copi, directed by Kyra Constantinoff; La Méprise de Marivaux, directed by Mar- tine Delor; As You Like It, directed by Jonathan Tazewell; Insolite comme toute chose ordinaire, devised by the collective L’art au quotidien; I.D. by Rasmus Lind- berg, devised by the collective Le 3ème état. As a singer, Caroline Espargilière has toured the United States in a chamber music choir and regularly works for hybrid shows mixing theatre and music: Jacques Rebotier’s shows such as La Revanche du dodo and Les Trois Parques m’attendent dans le parking; Operetta by Witold Gombrowicz, directed by Jean-Michel Rabeux, and Le Malade Imaginaire, Molière’s comedy-ballet, direct- ed by Alain Gautré. On camera, she has worked with Emmanuel Mouret, Jonathan Desoindre, Ibtis- same Bouchaddi, Chris Briant, Gérald Garutti, Martin Kalina.

Geoffrey Carey

Geoffrey Carey was born in Hollywood. He moved to France in his youth and became a student at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art under the tutelage of the legendary Antoine Vitez. In the theatre, he worked with such directors as Georges Wilson, Claude Régy, Pascal Rambert, Bruno Meyssat, Philippe Labaune, Jean-Claude Fall, Pascal Dusapin, Stanislas Nordey, Hubert Colas, Dan Jemmett, Pierre Maillet, Roger Planchon, Robert Sandoz and Claudia Stavisky, Ludovic Lagarde, David Géry, Richard Brunel, Joris Lacoste, Thomas Jolly, Marc Lainé, Régine Chopinot... On screen Geoffrey Carey has worked with, among other directors: Wim Wenders, Jacques Demy, Raoul Ruiz, Luc Besson, Luc Moullet, Arnaud Desple- chin, Robert Wilson, Maïwenn, Leos Carax, Abdellatif Kechiche, André Téchiné, Jan Kounen... On TV, Geoffrey Carey has worked with Zabou Breitman and Josée Dayan. Titre en corps 20

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Clement Griffault

An uncategorizable young artist, Clément Griffault discovered music at the age of 5. Winner and finalist of several international competitions, Clément Griffault performs in concert sets and festivals as well as performing as a sideman in jazz and improvised music events in France and . He was invited by Jean-Claude Pennetier to participate in the Villecroze Academy, and during this time he attended the keyboard improvisation class at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris and obtained a degree in sound engineering at the Boulogne Conservatory. Clément Griffault and his brother Thomas founded the OF POP label in 2015 where he is producer and sound engineer. In 2017, he began a collaboration with the Guadeloupean composer Alain Pradel and worked on the recording of his complete piano works. Clément Griffault and the actress Pascale Bessard created a critically acclaimed show about the life of Erik Satie. In 2019, he signed with the Label Lélu to record his first album of his own compositions. Clément Griffault’s electro-hip-hop project Fasten Seat Belt will release its first EP in 2020. Clément has received financial support from ADAMI, the Mécénat Musical Société Générale and the Villecroze Musical Academy.

Jan Peters

On graduating High School in Germany in 2002 Jan Peters worked as a community service volunteer in France for a year. He then entered the drama school ERACM in Cannes and Marseille until 2007. On graduating, he performed for, among other directors: Jean-Pierre Vincent, Anne Alvaro and David Lescot. After playing in a string of classic and contemporary plays, Jan Peters began working with Jeanne Candel on several productions, from 2008 onwards, including: Robert Plankett, a devised piece; Villegiature adapted from Goldoni (Codirector Thomas Quillardet); Le Crocodile Trompeur / Dido and Aeneas (Codirector Samuel Achache) at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris (2013); Le gout du faux et autres chansons (2014-15, Paris and tour). Juliette Navis directed Jan Peters in Tous ce qui reste (2016). He acted and sang in Orfeo - Je suis mort en Arcadie, adapted from Monteverdi, codirected by J. Candel and S. Achache (2018 tour). Jan Peters divides his time between and Paris. Titre en corps 20

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CONTACT DETAILS

Charles Mesnier Executive Producer c.mesnier@theatre- lacriee.com Office +33 4 96 17 80 37 Cell +33 6 63 79 34 58

Annalisa Bartocci Assistant Producer [email protected] www.theatre-lacriee.com Office +33 4 96 17 80 04