FRANK CASTORF Bajazet En considérant Le théâtre et la peste d’après JEAN RACINE et ANTONIN ARTAUD FRANK CASTORF Bajazet Considering The Theater and the Plague RACINE/ARTAUD © Esquisse de la scénographie, Aleksandar Denic © Mathilda Olmi/Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne THÉÂTRE VIDY LES THÉÂTRES MC93 LAUSANNE AIX-EN-PROVENCE AVEC LE FESTIVAL D’AUTOMNE À PARIS Du 30 octobre au 10 novembre Du 20 au 22 novembre Du 5 au 14 décembre FRANK CASTORF BAJAZET CONTACTS GRAND THÉÂTRE DE PROVENCE/LES THÉÂTRES DIRECTION : DOMINIQUE BLUZET THÉÂTRE VIDY-LAUSANNE PRESS : EMMANUELLE CANCE DIRECTION: [email protected] VINCENT BAUDRILLER +33 (0)4 91 24 35 24 / +33 (0)6 25 85 48 40 MARIE LANZAFAME PRODUCTION: [email protected] DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC AND +33 (0)4 42 91 69 51 / +33 (0)6 64 76 91 08 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS CAROLINE BARNEAUD [email protected] *EXTRAPÔLE RÉGION SUD T +41 (0)21 619 45 44 With the creation of ExtraPôle, the Région SUD Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur is demonstrating its confi- TECHNICS: dence in the arts sector and its ability to build synergies TECHNICAL DIRECTION in the service of artists and their projects. ExtraPôle CHRISTIAN WILMART / SAMUEL MARCHINA helps extend the reach and influence of our region, [email protected] reflecting its artistic and cultural vibrancy. T +41 (0)21 619 45 16 / 81 Producing major works and disseminating them widely, encouraging their performance to a broad audience in PRESS: the region, bringing together stakeholders in a collabo- rative effort : these are the objectives that have been DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCES AND COMMUNICATION established by seven production companies, the Friche ASTRID LAVANDEROS la Belle de Mai, and the Région SUD. [email protected] La Criée, the Théâtre National de Nice, Les Théâtres, the T +41 (0)21 619 45 74 Festival d’Avignon, the Festival de Marseille, the Scène M +41 (0)79 949 46 93 Nationale Liberté-Châteauvallon, and Anthéa have chosen to become part of a collective group developing COMMUNICATION ASSISTANT joint artistic projects. PAULINE AMEZ-DROZ Eleven shows have been produced since June 2017, [email protected] indicating the shared determination and commitment of T +41 (0)21 619 45 21 each of the partners. 575 performances have been given in the region, in France, and internationally. Half of this co-production platform was financed by the Région SUD and the other half by the seven partner co-producers, led by the Friche la Belle de Mai – a new MC93 way of publicly funding artistic creation. The distri- bution approach is built into the programme from the very beginning. Moreover, the Région SUD supports DIRECTION : distribution by reducing fees for co-produced shows HORTENSE ARCHAMBAULT that are on tour. PRODUCTION : DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION MC93 CLAIRE ROUSSARIE PEPS [email protected] PEPS stands for the Plateforme Européenne de Produc- +33 1 41 60 72 77 tion Scénique [European Platform for Stage Produc- tions], which groups together the Théâtre Vidy- Lausanne, Bonlieu, Scène Nationale d’Annecy, Théâtre Saint-Gervais Genève, and Malraux Scène Nationale Chambéry under the framework of the European Pro- gramme of Cross-Border Cooperation Interreg France- Suisse 2014-2020, supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). DOCUMENTATION AND HD PICTURES To download on SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE MOMENTS https://vidy.ch/en/bajazet-considering- the-theatre-and-the-plague (page of the show, tab « Press and pro ») FRANK CASTORF BAJAZET 3 Creation BAJAZET at Vidy CONSIDERING THE THEATER AND THE PLAGUE RACINE/ARTAUD Direction and adaptation: Frank Castorf Scenography: Aleksandar Denic Costumes: Adriana Braga Peretzki Video: Andreas Deinert Music: William Minke Light: Lothar Baumgarte Assistant director: Hanna Lasserre and Camille Logoz, Camille Roduit Text: Jean Racine, Antonin Artaud and additional quotes from Blaise Pascal and Fiodor Dostoïevski With: Jeanne Balibar Jean-Damien Barbin Claire Sermonne Mounir Margoum Adama Diop Andreas Deinert (video) Bajazet Production: on tour Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne 30.10-10.11.19 Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne (CH) MC93 - Maison de la Culture de Seine St-Denis 20-22.11.19 Grand Théâtre de Provence, Coproduction: Aix-en-Provence (FR) ExtraPôle Région SUD* et le Grand Théâtre de Pro- 28-29.11.19 TANDEM scène nationale, Douai (FR) vence avec le soutien de la Friche Belle de Mai - Festi- 4-8.12.19, MC93, Bobigny (FR) dans le cadre val d’Automne à Paris - Théâtre National de Strasbourg 10-14.12.19 du Festival d’Automne à Paris - Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg, scène européenne Teatros del Canal, Madrid (ES) - TANDEM Scène nationale, Douai - Bonlieu, Scène na- 17-18.01.20 tionale Annecy -TNA / Teatro Nacional Argentino, Teatro 12-13.02.20 La Comédie de Valence (FR) Cervantes - Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione 19-21.02.20 Bonlieu scène nationale, Annecy (FR) With the production, technical, communication, and administra- 1.03.20 Vie Festival - Teatro Storchi Modena, ERT (IT) tion teams at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne 12-13.06.20 [REPORTÉ] Teatro Municipal do Porto This show is supported by the PEPS project in the frame (PT) of the european program, Interreg France-Suisse (2014- 19-20.06.20 [REPORTÉ] Teatro Nacional Donna Maria 2020). II, Lisbonne (PT) Creation 30th October 2019 at Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne 18-19.11.20 Le Quartz Scène nationale de Brest (FR) 17-21.02.21 Théâtre National de Strasbourg / Maillon Théâtre de Strasbourg - Scène Européenne (FR) FRANK CASTORF BAJAZET 4 INTRODUCTION Now all is at an end; my perfidy, My unjust doubts, my fatal jealousy, Have brought me to this pass: I realise ‘Twas my crime that caused Bajazet’s demise. Cruel destiny, are you so unforgiving That I, condemned, alas! to go on living, Must bear, to crown my grief, the endless shame That for my lover’s death I am to blame? Yes, my dear prince, your death is due to me, Not Roxane’s rage nor Amurat’s decree. Ah! for what purpose did I love you so? Jean Racine, Bajazet, 1672 Life consists of burning up questions. I cannot conceive of work that is detached from life. [...] We must get rid of the Mind, just as we must get rid of literature. I say that the Mind and life communicate on all levels. I would like to write a Book which would drive men mad, which would be like an open door leading them where they would never have consented to go, in short, a door that opens onto reality. Antonin Artaud, The Umbilicus of Limbo, 1925 Frank Castorf, who for many years was the director of the renowned Volksbühne in Berlin, has now set his sights on producing Bajazet by Racine, with a team of French performers including Jeanne Balibar. Castorf has been a provocative figure in German theatre for over forty years, famous for his directing of actors at the intersecting point between grotesque and fierce intensity, his early use of video that explored its truly dramatic energy, and his dizzying adaptations of novels – especially by Dostoyevsky, with whom he shares a taste for keen social analysis, lucid and raw, borne by the energy of the desperate. His theatre is utterly committed to freely acting and thinking; it doesn’t avoid contradiction, but it totally rejects any compromise in principles. For the first time, and in French, he is adapting a work by Racine, a dramatist that few non- Francophone artists have previously attempted. In Racine, Castorf recognises the foundation of his own theatre – the conviction that purity does not exist and that the tragedy of existence is born from the collusion between private passion and power, and between desire and contingent propositions. But they also share a belief in the power of the spoken word, theatre’s very anchor, which Racine’s heroes and heroines use to break apart the social settings that prevent them from fulfilling their desires – sexual desire and a desire for freedom – a demanding and radical spoken word, fatal if needs be. Castorf relates Racine to Artaud, another poet of vital immoderation, who uses words to extricate himself from what his birth, his body and his environment have imposed on him, in order to be reborn as himself. So from within the confines of the Sultan of Constantinople’s seraglio in Bajazet, Castorf brings together two major French poets and awakens our demons. ERIC VAUTRIN DRAMATURG AT THE THÉÂTRE VIDY-LAUSANNE FRANK CASTORF BAJAZET 5 VISIONS, PROPHECIES AND PROCLAMATIONS : HOW RACINE AND ARTAUD USE THE SPOKEN WORD And what the theatre can still take over from speech are its possibilities for extension beyond words, for development in space, for dissociative and vibratory action upon the sensibility. Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and Its Double WORDS THAT DEFY CONTINGENCY The words of the characters in Racine’s tragedies, or of Artaud the poet, abound with visions, oracles and incantations. It is through the spoken word that is visionary, full of imagery and projected onto the future, that Artaud and Racine’s characters release their tragic power: their words bring them closer to a new and acute awareness of existence and create the possibility of freedom – even if this means death for Racine and rebirth for Artaud. Intransigent and necessary words, firmly anchored in the incandescent night of the body, defy contingency and compromise. They are the opportunity for the soul to be revealed to itself and to others. These incantations become acts more powerful than any action, as they call on the innermost power of the soul, demanding pure and absolute freedom. RACINE AND THE DEADLY SPOKEN WORD One of Racine’s most singular inventions is the transformation of the tragic word – which traditionally expresses the divine and supernatural voice that dismantles human order – into power that belongs to the characters, imparted though their spoken words and that acts through them: in Bajazet, the three deaths are caused by words that reveal their deepest desires and simultaneously cause death.