L’Etang

Gisèle Vienne

April 28 – 30, 2022

Italian Premiere

An early work by the Swiss writer Robert Walser, L’Etang is a family drama: a boy feels unloved by his mother and stages his suicide in the desperate attempt to experience her love. In exposing the violence of social norms, the text experiments with levels of reality and temporality and blurs the boundaries between interiority and exteriority. Staged by the internationally renowned Franco-Austrian choreographer and director Gisèle Vienne, the piece examines the conventions of the theatre and the family. A vocal score for ten voices is performed by Adèle Haenel – winner of two César Awards and extraordinary performer in the film Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma, 2019) – and Henrietta Wallberg through a complex game of dissociation of voices. A sensorial and emotional rollercoaster.

Gisèle Vienne is a Franco-Austrian artist, choreographer and director. After graduating in philosophy, she studied at the puppeteering school École nationale supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette. She works regularly with the writer Dennis Cooper, among others. Over the past 20 years, her work has been touring in Europe and regularly performed in Asia and in America. Her performances include: I Apologize (2004), Kindertotenlieder (2007), Jerk (2008), This is how you will disappear (2010), LAST SPRING: A Prequel (2011), The Ventriloquists Convention (2015) in collaboration with Puppentheater Halle and Crowd (2017). In 2020 she created with Etienne Bideau-Rey a fourth version of Showroomdummies at the Rohm Theater Kyoto; in 2021 she directed the movie Jerk. Vienne has frequently been exhibiting her photographs in museums among which the New York Whitney Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires.

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Info

Running time 90’
Performance in French with Italian and English surtitles

Credits

based on: The Pond by Robert Walser
conception, direction, scenography, dramaturgy: Gisèle Vienne
performed by: Adèle Haenel, Henrietta Wallberg
text adaptation: Adèle Haenel, Julie Shanahan, Henrietta Wallberg, Gisèle Vienne
lights: Yves Godin
sound design: Adrien Michel
music direction: Stephen F. O'Malley
original music: Stephen F. O’Malley, François J. Bonnet
tour assistant: Sophie Demeyer
outside eye: Dennis Cooper, Anja Rottgerkamp
collaboration to the scenography: Maroussia Vaes
conception of puppets: Gisèle Vienne
creation of puppets: Raphaël Rubbens, Dorothéa Vienne-Pollak, Gisèle Vienne, Théâtre National de Bretagne
stage set production: Nanterre-Amandiers CDN
set and accessories: Gisèle Vienne, Camille Queval, Guillaume Dumont
costumes: Gisèle Vienne, Camille Queval
wig and make-up artist: Mélanie Gerbeaux
technical manager: Richard Pierre
sound engineer: Mareike Trillhaas, Adrien Michel
light manager: Iannis Japiot, Samuel Dosière
stage manager: Antoine Hordé, Jack McWeeny
performance created in collaboration with: Kerstin Daley-Baradel, Ruth Vega Fernandez
thanks to: Etienne Bideau-Rey, Nelson Canart, Zac Farley, Erik Houllier, Tristan Lahoz, César Van Looy, Jean-Paul Vienne
production, distribution: Alma Office (Anne-Lise Gobin, Alix Sarrade, Camille Queval, Andrea Kerr)
administration: Etienne Hunsinger, Giovanna Rua
production: DACM, Company Gisèle Vienne
co-production: Nanterre-Amandiers CDN, Théâtre national de Bretagne, Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène européenne, Holland Festival, Fonds Transfabrik – Fonds franco-allemand pour le spectacle vivant, Centre Culturel André Malraux, Comédie de Genève, La Filature – Scène nationale de Mulhouse, Le Manège – Scène nationale de Reims, MC2: Grenoble, Ruhrtriennale, TANDEM – Scène nationale, Kaserne Basel, International Summer Festival Kampnagel Hamburg, Festival d’Automne, Théâtre Garonne, CCN2 – Centre Chorégraphique national de Grenoble, BIT Teatergarasjen, Black Box Teater
with the support of CND Centre national de la danse, La Colline – Théâtre national, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
thanks to: Point Ephémère for putting their rehearsal space at our disposal and to Playroom, SMEM, Fribourg for their sound studio
supported by: Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication – DRAC Grand Est, the Région Grand Est and Ville de Strasbourg, the Institut Français for international touring
Gisèle Vienne is an associated artist at the CND Centre national de la danse and at the Théâtre National de Bretagne
with the support of: Fondazione Nuovi Mecenati – Fondazione franco-italiana di sostegno alla creazione contemporanea