Ariane Mnouchkine New York, July 22, 2005
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We are the first people who are leaving nothing for our children – and America is leading the charge.We are at war against our children. Ariane Mnouchkine New York, July 22, 2005 Frontispiece Ariane Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil at the Cartoucherie de Vincennes during the run of The Shakespeare Cycle, 1981 ARIANE MNOUCHKINE Routledge Performance Practitioners is a series of introductory guides to the key theater-makers of the last century. Each volume explains the background to and the work of one of the major influences on twentieth- and twenty-first-century performance. Ariane Mnouchkine, the most significant living French theater director, has devised over the last forty years a form of research and creation with her theater collective, Le Théâtre du Soleil, that is both engaged with contemporary history and committed to reinvigorating theater by foregrounding the centrality of the actor.This is the first book to combine: G an overview of Mnouchkine’s life, work and theatrical influences G an exploration of her key ideas on theater and the creative process G analysis of key productions, including her early and groundbreaking environmental political piece, 1789,and the later Asian-inspired play penned by Hélène Cixous, Drums on the Dam G practical exercises, including tips on mask work. As a first step toward critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further,primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners are unbeatable value for today’s student. Judith G. Miller is Chair and Professor of French and Francophone Theatre in the Department of French at New York University. ROUTLEDGE PERFORMANCE PRACTITIONERS Series editor: Franc Chamberlain, University College Cork Routledge Performance Practitioners is an innovative series of introductory handbooks on key figures in twentieth-century performance practice. Each volume focuses on a theater-maker whose practical and theoretical work has in some way transformed the way we understand theater and performance. The books are carefully structured to enable the reader to gain a good grasp of the fundamental elements underpinning each practi- tioner’s work.They will provide an inspiring springboard for future study, unpacking and explaining what can initially seem daunting. The main sections of each book cover: G personal biography G explanation of key writings G description of significant productions G reproduction of practical exercises. Volumes currently available in the series are: Eugenio Barba by Jane Turner Augusto Boal by Frances Babbage Michael Chekhov by Franc Chamberlain Jacques Copeau by Mark Evans Etienne Decroux by Thomas Leabhart Jerzy Grotowski by James Slowiak and Jairo Cuesta Anna Halprin by Libby Worth and Helen Poyner Jacques Lecoq by Simon Murray Joan Littlewood by Nadine Holdsworth Vsevolod Meyerhold by Jonathan Pitches Ariane Mnouchkine by Judith G. Miller Konstantin Stanislavsky by Bella Merlin Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo by Sondra Fraleigh and Tamah Nakamura Robert Wilson by Maria Shevtsova Future volumes will include: Antonin Artaud Pina Bausch Bertolt Brecht Peter Brook Rudolf Laban Robert Lepage Lee Strasberg Mary Wigman ARIANE MNOUCHKINE Judith G. Miller First published 2007 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2007 Judith G. Miller This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Miller, Judith Graves. Ariane Mnouchkine / by Judith G. Miller p. cm.—(Routledge performance practitioners) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Mnouchkine, Ariane, 1938—Critism and interpretation. I. Title. PN2638.M445M55 2007 792.023’3092—dc22 2006034409 ISBN 0-203-44847-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–33884–0 (hbk) ISBN10: 0–415–33885–9 (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–44847–2 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–33884–4 (hbk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–33885–1 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–44847–2 (ebk) TO THE MEMORY OF GREAT TEACHERS AND FRIENDS WHO HAVE INSPIRED ME BY THEIR OWN PASSIONS TO PURSUE WHAT I LOVE: DENIS BABLET, TIM COOK, CLAIRE DUCHEN, ELIZABETH KARLAN, ILSE LIPSCHUTZ, MARY LYDON, ELAINE MARKS, AND YVONNE OZZELLO CONTENTS List of figures xi Acknowledgments xiii 1INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC BIOGRAPHY: NOMAD OF THE IMAGINATION 1 Beginnings 2 Mnouchkine and her times 8 Theatrical influences and affinities 15 2IDEAS ON THEATER: THEATER AS COLLECTIVE HISTORY AND THE QUEST FOR FORM 27 Theoretical propositions 29 The creative process 47 Paradoxes and tensions 55 3FOUR KEY PRODUCTIONS: MNOUCHKINE’S “FANATICALLY THEATRICAL” 63 1789: collective creation, audience involvement, and comedic form 64 x CONTENTS Richard II: mythic storytelling, hybridizing Asia, and geometrizing power 76 L’Indiade ou l’inde de leurs rêves: the Cixousian partnership, aesthetics of the hyper-real, and border crossers 84 Drums on the Dam: In the Form of an Ancient Puppet Play, Performed by Actors: theatrical self-questioning and the actor as puppet 93 Conclusion 101 4PRACTICAL EXERCISES 103 Principles of theatrical creation 105 Mask work 121 A basic rehearsal vocabulary 133 A glossary of terms and names 135 Bibliography 145 Index 153 FIGURES Frontispiece Ariane Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil at the Cartoucherie de Vincennes during the run of The Shakespeare Cycle, 1981 1.1 Choral dancing by members of the Théâtre du Soleil inspired by bharata natyam work, for The House of Atreus Cycle; here Aeschylus’s The Libation Bearers, 1991 18 2.1 The actor Philippe Caubère, in a Harlequin mask, as Abdallah the immigrant construction worker, l’Age d’Or, 1975 39 2.2 The actor Juliana Carneiro da Cunha, masked as a bunraku puppet, as Lord Khang in Drums on the Dam, 1999 42 2.3 Ariane Mnouchkine (seated on bleachers), Hélène Cixous (at desk), and the company during a rehearsal of l’Indiade, 1987 49 3.1 The character Marat denounces the bourgeois National Assembly for putting an end to the Revolution, 1789, 1971 68 3.2 The Théâtre du Soleil performs 1789 on elevated platform or trestle tables, with the audience incorporated into the performance, 1971 73 xii FIGURES 3.3 The character King Richard II, surrounded by courtiers in Mnouchkine’s kabuki-inspired production of Shakespeare’s Richard II, 1982 81 3.4 The character Gandhi pleads for peace, surrounded by members of the Congress Party and by his untouchable rickshaw driver, l’Indiade, 1987 88 3.5 The character Haridasi, the Bengali pilgrim, and other Indian women listen to the debate between members of the Congress Party and the Muslim League, l’Indiade, 1987 91 3.6 The Lord Khang/puppet attends to his sly nephew Hun/puppet, as other puppets and their puppeteers look on, Drums on the Dam, 1999 97 3.7 The sentinels/puppets keeping watch over the countryside practice their drum warnings, led by Duan, the Soothsayer’s daughter, Drums on the Dam, 1999 100 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Ariane Mnouchkine’s theater work has accompanied and inspired me ever since I first set foot in France in 1967. I have seen all but two of her post- 1967 productions, and many of them several times. I undertook this study of Mnouchkine, then, despite my seemingly all-embracing move to NewYork City and a new job, because I could not imagine not being in her company. For sparking the thinking and creativity that went into this book, I therefore thank first the intrepid director she is. I also thank all the Théâtre du Soleil family, past and present, for teaching me about what theater can do and be. From this community, I especially thank Hélène Cixous who, with her knowingness, brings me ever closer to understand- ing Ariane Mnouchkine’s gifts. I thank, too, Jean-François Dusigne and Lucia Bensasson, Directors of ARTA at the Cartoucherie de Vincennes, who shared some of their acting experience as former members of the Théâtre du Soleil during a long interview in the summer of 2003. Without discussing and producing theater in French, including the Soleil’s 1789,with my students – first at The University of Wisconsin- Madison, then at New York University in France and now at the main campus of New York University, my insights and my energy for living would not be the same. I am grateful to them, too, as well as to my stim- ulating colleagues and staff in both New York University settings. I am also deeply moved that so many former students are involved in the world of teaching and theater-making. xiv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For many years of probing conversations about theater work, about France, about meaningful political choices, and notably about Ariane Mnouchkine, I would like to acknowledge here my longtime friends and colleagues: David Bradby, Michal Govrin, Allen Kuharski, Kate Turley, Philippa Wehle, and Jack Yeager. For their superb contributions to Mnouchkine studies, I thank Josette Féral, Béatrice Picon-Vallin, and David Williams. The Magnum Agency has allowed me to include in this book the pho- tography of Martine Franck, who, since the company’s inception, has documented brilliantly the productions of the Théâtre du Soleil. All photos are thus courtesy of Martine Franck/Magnum Photos. Spending long hours at Magnum-Paris in preparation for this book, pouring over at least a thousand production shots of the Théâtre du Soleil, made me feel as though I was reviewing my own life in French theater.