DAVID MARTON / ROAD OPERA Narcisse Et Écho
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THÉÂTRE VIDY-LAUSANNE AV. E.-H. JAQUES-DALCROZE 5 CH-1007 LAUSANNE DAVID MARTON / ROAD OPERA Narcisse et Écho Vidy Creation Rehearsal photos © Christian Friedländer Creation June 13th 2019 DAVID MARTON/ROAD OPERA NARCISSE ET ÉCHO 2 CONTACTS THÉÂTRE VIDY-LAUSANNE DIRECTION: VINCENT BAUDRILLER PRODUCTION: DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC AND INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS CAROLINE BARNEAUD [email protected] T +41 (0)21 619 45 44 TECHNICS: Narcisse et Écho TECHNICAL DIRECTION at Vidy CHRISTIAN WILMART / SAMUEL MARCHINA [email protected] Jeu. 12.09 20h30 T +41 (0)21 619 45 16 / 81 Ven. 13.09 20h30 Sam. 14.09 19h00 PRESS: Dim. 15.09 17h00 DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCES AND COMMUNICATION ASTRID LAVANDEROS [email protected] Mar. 17.09 20h00 T +41 (0)21 619 45 74 M +41 (0)79 949 46 93 Mer. 18.09 20h00 Jeu. 19.09 20h00 COMMUNICATION ASSISTANT PAULINE AMEZ-DROZ Ven. 20.09 20h00 [email protected] Sam. 21.09 15h00 T +41 (0)21 619 45 21 Narcisse et Écho on tour 12-21.09.19 Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne (CH) 2-3.10.19 Le ThéâtredelaCité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie (FR) 13-17.12.19 Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil (FR) 20.12.19 L’Onde, Vélizy-Villacoublay (FR) 29-31.01.20 Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg (FR) 6-9.02.20 Radialsystem, Berlin (DE) 8-9.04.20 Théâtre de Caen (FR) 15-16.04.20 Les 2 Scènes, Scène nationale de Besançon (FR) 28-29.04.20 Théâtre de Lorient (FR) 26-27.05.20 Scène nationale du Sud-Aquitain, Bayonne (FR) DOCUMENTATION AND HD PICTURES DISCOVER #LAVIEAVIDY AND SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE MOMENTS: To download on https://vidy.ch/en/narcisse-et-echo-1 (page of the show, tab « Press and pro ») CreationVidy DAVID MARTON/ROAD OPERA NARCISSE ET ÉCHO 3 CreationVidy DISTRIBUTION Text: Adapted from Ovid’s Metamorphoses Conception and directing: David Marton Scenography: Christian Friedländer Light: Henning Streck Dramaturgy: Lucien Strauch Music and composition: Paul Brody (trumpet) Michael Wilhelmi (piano) Daniel Dorsch (sound creation) Costumes: Valentine Solé Assistant director: Lisa Como Dramaturgical advice: Barbara Engelhardt With: Thorbjörn Björnsson Paul Brody Daniel Dorsch Vinora Epp Marie Goyette Michael Wilhelmi Production: Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne Coproduction: Wiener Festwochen - Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg, Scène européenne - Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil - Théâtre de Caen - Les 2 Scènes, scène nationale de Besançon With the support of: L’École de la Comédie de Saint-Étienne - DIÈSE #, Auvergne, Rhône-Alpes - Pro Helvetia, Fondation suisse pour la culture - Hauptstadtkulturfonds Berlin - Radialsystem Production supported by LaB E23, Interreg Program France-Switzerland 2014-2020 with funding support from the ERDF. Creation June 2019 With the production, technical, communication and administration crews of Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne DAVID MARTON/ROAD OPERA NARCISSE ET ÉCHO 4 THE ROAD OPERA AS A METAMORPHOSIS Initially trained as a pianist at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin before becoming a musician for the likes of Frank Castorf, Árpád Schilling and Christoph Marthaler, over the last 15 years David Marton has become a leading figure in musical theatre, continuing to surprise with his formal inventiveness and ability to bring drama to the musical repertoire. He has been invited to collaborate with major German and European theatres and is sought after by European opera houses for his productions that through their mise en scène, both learned and ingenious, shake up the notions of traditional opera yet reveal the very letter, spirit and tone of the works. This was evident in Don Giovanni Keine Pause (2012), where Giovanni is a woman, the text is interspersed with quotes from the Marquis de Sade, and Mozart mixes with the jazz world. In just a few years, Marton has become one of Europe’s Read David Marton‘s portrait most unique and inspiring artists. on the Goethe Institute website - „50 contemporary German directors“ : While for the last 15 years he has been exploring the possible relationships between the David Marton various repertoires and their forms, both in opera and theatre, he is now searching for a hybrid that would lead to a lighter and more mobile form of opera – a ‘road opera’. This musical theatre, freed from the constraints of opera, has a pared-down crew and less substantial scenography, but retains the same principles of composition, mixing music, voice, text, scenography and movement. This search has led to Narcisse et Écho, a new creation that invites us to reflect on metamorphosis, inspired by Ovid. NARCISSUS AND ÉCHO OR LOVE THRU IMAGE AND SOUND Recounted in Metamorphoses by Roman author Ovid, the myths of Écho and Narcissus are linked together. Écho is a nymph who has been cursed and is condemned to repeat only the last words spoken to her. She falls in love with Narcissus, but is unable to attract him as she cannot use her own words, instead reduced to expressing herself via the sounds of others. Narcissus wearies of the nymph’s tiresome voice and discovers his own reflection in mirror-like calm waters. Fascinated, he falls in love with it. Through this image, he is drawn into a spiral of infinite self-reflection from which he is unable to escape. These two tales touch on the themes of art and love as much as they do on loneliness and the relationship with oneself. The dramatic aspect of this creation is metamorphosis – the search for a form and narrative that are continually changing, where each element transforms another, driven by five performers, singers, actors and musicians. And finally,the music will range from baroque to contemporary. It will be performed on-stage, both with period instruments and with sounds from today’s digital technology, emanating from smartphones and other objects of daily use. The movement between analogue and digital worlds will signal a journey through time, where snippets of the past are revealed, as if they were a possible future. In David Marton’s theatre, music is like a memory of the future: the insubstantial and intangible shape of human desires and hopes – such as Écho’s voice and the image of Narcissus – re-emerge from a forgotten past in an unexpected and unpredictable way. This time, it tells of a long-hoped for and endless search for love, as well as the wandering path of loneliness. ERIC VAUTRIN DRAMATURG AT THE THÉÂTRE VIDY-LAUSANNE DAVID MARTON/ROAD OPERA NARCISSE ET ÉCHO 5 DIRECTOR’S NOTE Ovid’s Metamorphoses form a sensitive and coherent world that recounts the uncertain and multiple adventures of mythological figures. David Marton and his Road Opera ensemble have reinterpreted these narratives in light of our present day. The nymph Echo, in love with Narcissus, has been punished; she can only communicate through the words of others. Narcissus, too, has received a punishment; he is lost in the contemplation of his own reflection, infatuated with an inaccessible object. Narcissus and Echo represent two forms of introspection, one audio and the other visual; their paths cross but without joining together. On stage, musicians and actors explore the solitude of “I”, imposed or voluntary, in a polyphony where ancient music resonates with the digital sounds of today. DAVID MARTON JUNE 2019 Rehearsal photos © Christian Friedländer DAVID MARTON/ROAD OPERA NARCISSE ET ÉCHO 6 DAVID MARTON, OR MUSICAL THEATRICALITY Trained as a pianist, conductor and director, David Marton’s way of not simply illustrating the score, but of searching for the theatricality in the music itself and for the musicality in human behaviour, is surprising. His theatre contains the dual traces of gentle melancholy and a surrealist humour that recalls the sharp mind of Marcel Duchamp. He makes use of a playful science that gives a sense of staging and drama to the music. And so in his work, especially thanks to performers who are musicians as much as they are actors or singers, music equals text, capable of expressing a character’s innermost feelings or the hidden shape of a situation, or even the unforeseen turbulence of a narrative, while words and gestures can reveal unexpected melodic and rhythmic qualities. ‘Music is not just a means for rendering emotion in the middle of a story, but a way of understanding the world,’ he says. ‘Where staged sequences of events or the relationships between individuals organised by precise psychological rules would normally occur, music instead allows its own unique rules to appear. I believe that this is a vital step in the endless inquiry into how we should create musical theatre.’ And so Marton’s primary focus is the fundamental musicality of human beings, whose individuality and innermost feelings are expressed through sound. On stage, music and singing are tangible realities in the exploration of aspects of the human condition. And, hopes David Marton, ‘music will thus become an integral part of our existence.’ ERIC VAUTRIN DRAMATURG AT THE THÉÂTRE VIDY-LAUSANNE DAVID MARTON/ROAD OPERA NARCISSE ET ÉCHO 7 TRANSFORMATION AND SOLITUDE David Marton in conversation with Lucien Strauch Lucien Strauch : Narcisse et Écho is the first work that you have presented with Road Opera, a group that was created especially for this project, with artists you have been working alongside for a long time. David Marton : Road Opera is actually a correction. I have developed many relationships since I began working in the independent theatre scene in Berlin; actress Marie Goyette, lighting designer Henning Streck, and sound designer Daniel Dorsch were already involved in my very first production. At the time, we often thought about naming our company, but most of our comrades in arms were musicians with an intensive and independent musical life and were not able to tour exclusively with a fixed group.