Seuls en Scène, Princeton French Theater Festival 2019

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Seuls en Scène 2019 presents The Disorder of Discourse. On December 2, 1970, Michel Foucault gave his inaugural lecture at the Collège de France, the first lesson for which a rewriting subsists, entitled L’Ordre du discours. Fanny de Chaillé recreates the event and puts together a discursive performance destined for university amphitheaters. The effect of this re-enactment of Foucault’s words is to set his thoughts in motion once again.

Seuls en Scène 2019 presents The Hammer and the Sickle. After Houellebecq and Bolaño, the director Julien Gosselin continues his scenic exploration of the literature of today and violence in our societies. Based on a short story by the American writer Don DeLillo, this latest production presents the dystopian world of high finance.

A conversation (in French) between Julien Gosselin and Pascal Rambert with Laure Adler, a French journalist, essayist, historian, radio producer, former director of France Culture, and author of Marguerite Duras; Dans les pas de Hannah Arendt; and L’Insoumise: Simone Weil.

Seuls en Scène 2019 presents Who Killed My Father. In the manner Marguerite Duras, Simone de Beauvoir, Annie Ernaux and Didier Eribon, Edouard Louis writes from his personal experience. His two almost biographical novels: The End of Eddy (2014) and History of Violence (2016), have moved many of his readers. For this play, he responded to the invitation of stage director and performer Stanislas Nordey, to write a text to be spoken and to be read, a work for the theater.

Seuls en Scène 2019 presents Avignon for Ever. The title rings out like a declaration of love and it is one — one that author and director Pascal Rambert made in Avignon and at its Festival. “I wrote this text on trains, at airports, in stations, on planes. When you can finally be quiet. [...] And daydream a little. Dreaming a little about what you love. Here, Avignon and its Festival. I don't know why I wanted to write a kind of love letter to Avignon and its Festival. Probably because the conditions of beauty and sorrow of the human condition, which are represented, are held for three weeks in this place.” It is Stanislas Nordey who will lend his voice to this luminous ode to the theatre.

With Blablabla, Joris Lacoste and Emmanuelle Lafon orchestrate, for the first time, a children’s version of their Encyclopédie de la parole. In this piece, devised using recordings of all different kinds, an actress-singer-performer explores how children hear. Thus, the question is not what is their point of view, but what is their “point of hearing?” This show is designed for adult and child (age 6+) audiences alike.

Seuls en Scène 2019 presents The Prodigies' Law. In this enthralling one-man show, François de Brauer creates twenty captivating characters using minimal props and costumes. We follow the story of Remi Goutard, who from his birth, develops a hatred for the arts and holds a persistent grudge against artists and performers. When appointed as a Congressman at the National Assembly, he strives to get rid of all cultural events and artists who wish to reintegrate into society. In this show, Brauer also introduces us to other intriguing personalities such as Remi’s schizophrenic father and an Argentinian psychoanalyst. Brauer’s artistry at creating multiple characters and transforming subtly from one to another has been hailed by critics as a tour de force.

Since 2012, radio journalists and producers Aurélie Charon and Caroline Gillet have explored innovative documentary formats; their voices already well known to listeners of France Inter and France Culture, this duo, together with illustrator Amélie Bonnin, have developed a live program on stage accompanied by music, archives, and real-life exchanges.