The Rocher des Doms company presents its creation around the life of Louise Michel and her letters to Victor Hugo on March 1 at the Théâtre Gaston Bernard.
Louise Michel Or Louise Maboul
A show that gives pride of place to his generosity, his commitments, and his loyalty to the human race.
Through her memoirs, her letters to Victor Hugo, and other volumes by Louise Michel, we offer a journey into the heart of this generous Louise, from her birth to her arrival in New Caledonia.
Theater
Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes
Direction and performance: Sylvain Marmorat and Laurence Boyenval
Lighting Design and Management: Léa Pierre
With the sound participation of:
Esotériq on a poem by Louise Michel (The Manifestation of Peace)
Evelyne Peudon and her cello (Le Temps des Cerises)
Video Editing: Vincent Rabout
Costume : Louisa Breysse
Decor: Sylvain Marmorat and Laurence Boyenval
Original Painting by Françoise Utrel (Le Temps des Cerises)
Manufacturing Pascal, Manu, Enzo.
Posters: Vincent Marziali
Photo : Mu, André Poinsot
Participation in the writing: Yves Moalic
Production support:
Burgundy Franche Comte region
DRAC Burgundy Franche-Comte
Department of Côte d’Or
Cities of Dijon and Talant
The Gaston Bernard Theater and the City of Châtillon-Sur-Seine
Statement of intent
In 2010, during a tour in New Caledonia, we realized the imprint of Louise Michel, still very present today. As soon as we returned to France, we did in-depth research, and we quickly realized that the character is timeless, … and still relevant.
We have endeavored to make discover or rediscover Louise Michel, heroine Haut-Marnaise, internationally known, under different, particular angles and very often ignored by the general public.
Our goal is not to describe, but to bring to life on stage this beating and tireless heart that sums up our republican motto (Liberty. Equality. Fraternity.)
“Often I have been asked to write my Memoirs; but I always felt a reluctance to talk about myself as one would feel to undress in public. »
Every word that comes out of his mouth is not a fiction, it is his word, his thought. “Everyone knows or thinks they know the ex-deportee of 1871, […] But there are two Louise Michels: that of the legend and that of reality, which have no resemblance to each other.
For many people, and – why not admit it? – for the vast majority of the public, and especially in the provinces, Louise Michel is a sort of scarecrow, a pitiless virago, an ogress, a monster with a human face, ready to sow iron, fire, oil and dynamite everywhere .. If need be, he would be accused of eating little children raw…
This is the legend.
How different is the reality:
Those who approach her for the first time are all amazed to find themselves in front of a woman with a friendly approach, a soft voice, eyes sparkling with intelligence and exuding kindness. As soon as one has spoken with her for a quarter of an hour, all prejudices fade away, all biases disappear: one finds oneself subjugated, charmed, fascinated, conquered. One can reject his ideas, blame his actions; one cannot help loving it and respecting, even in their deviations, the ardent and sincere convictions that drive it. »
Preface by the editor of “Mémoires” – 1886
Scenography
The scenography separates the two protagonists in space and time.
Louise is dressed in her eternal black dress (late 19th century model), a sign of the mourning she has promised herself to wear until the end of her days.
The lecturer is in ordinary and contemporary attire.
The lecturer has his books, his computer and a screen on which he projects some video extracts
Louise is in a room furnished with a cot, a small table and a small chair. This could be his prison cell.
In summary
Alone in her interior, at the twilight of her life. Louise talks to herself and tells why she is writing her memoirs for the third time, and how she burned the first manuscript; symbol of purification and eternal renewal where death and life are intimately linked.
“But who can say where life ends, where death begins: isn’t everything, on the contrary, life and eternal transformations. » Louise-Michel
A speaker passionate about his subject gives us his research. Its media are videos, texts by Jules Vallès, Georges Sand, writings by Xaviere Gauthier, etc. The floor passes from one to the other.
Louise tells her story and offers us the highlights of her life. We discover her childhood in Haute-Marne, her beginnings as a teacher in Audeloncourt, her fight during the commune, her trial, her despair during her imprisonment in Auberive and finally her journey on the Virginia which takes her to New Caledonia where she is deported.
Thus, the story of Louise Michel is offered to us, without chronological constraint, as in the writing of her memoirs where, from one sentence to another, she takes us on a journey from Vroncourt-La-Côte to New Caledonia.
“When I saw Sidney, in Australia, surrounded by bluish peaks, I recognized there with an enlargement the mountain ridges dominated by the Cona*”
Louise Michel
* Cona: Mountain surrounding Vroncourt La Côte
“My life is full of poignant memories, I will often recount them randomly in print; if I take for my thought and my pen the right of vagrancy, it will be agreed that I have paid well for it. »
Louise Michel
Sylvain Marmorat
During his training at the Cours d’Art Dramatique, Le Joueur Regardé, directed by Daniel Postal, from 1983 to 1986, he landed his first role in 1987 and interpreted Le Chérubin in Le Mariage De Figaro, directed by Daniel Postal at the Théâtre de Metz in 1984.
In 1988, he created “The Beggar or the Dead Dog” by Berthold Brecht in Avignon (off) at the Rocher des Doms and after a real success, he founded the company in Paris. In 1989, he moved to Chatillon Sur Seine where the company was welcomed by the municipality with a three-year creation agreement (contemporary and classical repertoire). There he was spotted by Michael Lonsdale, and played under his direction in the title role of the show “Bernard de Clairvaux” for five years and continued this companionship until 2012 (L’Amante anglaise by Duras). The company arrived in Talant in 1991. Sylvain Marmorat directed more than ten productions, acted in more than twenty shows, ran a theater school and provided hundreds of hours of training, particularly in the Theater option. .
He met Jacques Fornier in 1997, an actor, coach, accomplice and friend, who participated as an actor in several creations of the Company.
Sylvain likes to work on author’s texts, contemporary or from the repertoire. His stagings are above all a service of the texts he works on.
Laurence Boyenval
After an apprenticeship at the Grenier de Bourgogne with Jean Maisonnave, she was quickly spotted and directed by François Jacob in La Chasse aux Rats by Peter Turini.
She joined the Compagnie Le Rocher des Doms directed by Sylvain Marmorat, where she met Michaël Lonsdale with whom she took part in public readings and who directed her for the role of Claire in L’Amante Anglaise. In 1997, she took part in an internship with Jacques Fornier who followed and coached her for twenty years.
Her career with this company allowed her to take on roles in tragedy (Phèdre by Racine, L’Amante Anglaise by Marguerite Duras…), comedy (La Fille Bien Gardée by Eugène Labiche, Les Derniers Devoirs by Calaferte , Crumbs of Calaferte…), jokes (The Flying Doctor by Molière…). She regularly follows training courses, notably with Boris from Gitis in Moscow, Yves Marc from the Théâtre du Mouvement, Patrick Pézin for the mask and Michèle Troise for singing.
She plays in more than twenty creations and develops her own projects: Phèdre ~ Epilogue (adaptation of Racine’s text), L’histoire d’Amour du siècle (poem by Marta Tikkanen).
Adept at reading aloud, she particularly enjoys sharing dramatic texts, short stories, stories and poetry, etc…. in public reading.
Laurence Boyenval passes on her knowledge and experience, in particular to students in the Theater option at the Lycée Stephen Liégeard in Brochon (21), to adults, and to children in middle school and primary schools.
She followed the training of the SEVE Foundation on the practice of Philosophical Workshops.
She co-directs the Company with Sylvain.
Who are we ?
Founded in Paris in 1989, the Compagnie Le Rocher des Doms is today co-directed by Sylvain Marmorat, director and actor, and Laurence Boyenval, actress.
She gathers around her individuals who devote their energy over the long term to the development of her artistic project, a team with the same interest in theatrical research, always apprentices, whose questions never stop increasing, whose only answers are the acts – rehearsals and performances -, whose desires gave birth to the troupe.
It never ceases to cry out its desire to grow, to manifest its desire to welcome and open its doors to the liking of human relations, to always return to this “essential of sharing” that the theater instills in us; if it knows how to feed on internal projects, it also needs to exist through multiple encounters.
Create shows: more than thirty creations to date, as many contemporary authors (20th and 21st centuries) as classical authors. A company must have a directory. A comedian needs to expand his range. For many years, we have imposed a minimum number of performance dates in a year. We are convinced that an actor is made to be on stage in front of an audience and the more he plays the better he is trained.
Our vocation also goes towards decentralization to seek new audiences, to confront our work with unknown territories. The actor is a traveler, a nomad. Some territories are less well served culturally, often due to a lack of equipment. This is why each of our creations has been designed to be distributed as widely as possible. We can set up in theaters, but also transform a village hall into a real performance hall so that the spectators are in the best reception conditions. Some pieces, like Clap and Black Out take up so little space that we can present it in town halls, classrooms, libraries without taking away the magic of the show, the decor having been designed with this in mind.
We already have equipment at our disposal: black curtains, legs, small bridges, bleachers, projectors, light tables. We have also invested in a heavy truck which gives us great freedom to settle in a city or a village. We continue our investments in order to increase our autonomy and allow certain structures not equipped with equipment or personnel to also welcome at home.
All our creations on our blog
www.lerocherdesdoms.org
Communicated
–
