Joël Pommerat

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Joël Pommerat (born February 28, 1963 in Roanne , Loire department ) is a French actor , director and playwright . Since 1990 he has mainly directed his own theater texts and prefers the professional titles "auteur de spectacle", "praticien du théâtre" or "fabricant de pièces" [author of performances, practitioner of the stage or producer of plays].

life and work

Pommerat discovered his passion for the theater as a 12-year-old visitor to the Festival d'Avignon and also in French lessons at high school. He left school early, became an actor at the age of 18, and began writing.

However, he did not like the acting profession, he wanted to break the dependency of the actor on direction and direction and therefore began to write regularly at the age of 23. But it wasn't until four years later that he presented his first play at the Théâtre Clavel in Paris , the theater monologue Le Chemin de Dakar . In this context he founded his own company Louis Brouillard in the same year , which only plays his own pieces. The troupe's name consists of his father's first name and the French term for fog , which reveals something about the author's relentless search for reality. Since then, Pommerat has usually developed his plays together with the actors during rehearsals. He describes the members of his company as co-authors, one time as the author of the performance (“auteur de spectacle”) or another time ironically as the little patriarch (“petit patron”), because his troupe only plays his own texts. Every year a new production is created on average. The pieces following Le Chemin de Dakar were premiered at the Théâtre de la Main d'Or in Paris.

In 1995 he staged the play Pôles at the Les Fédérés Theater in Montluçon - the first text he released for publication. This was followed by the world premiere of Treize étroites têtes , also in Montluçon. From 1997 the author and director worked exclusively with the medium of film for three years and made several short films. In 1998, France Culture commissioned the radio play Les Enfants . Then he turned back to the theater. In 2004 the Compagnie Louis Brouillard premiered the new play Au monde at the Théâtre National de Strasbourg , which was also very successful on an international level and was invited to guest performances in Moscow and New York, among others. In 2006 the Festival d'Avignon presented a retrospective of his productions. From 2007 to 2010, Pommerat was - at the invitation of the legendary director Peter Brook - Artist in Residence at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris.

Pommerat also uses unusual stage shapes, such as this 360-degree arena in 2011 for Ma chambre froide in the Théâtre de l'Odéon in Paris

In spring 2011 he celebrated his breakthrough in Paris with Ma chambre froide [My cold room]. The daily newspaper Liberation devoted four full pages to his theater work in March. “That goes beyond the scope of 'Libé'. The series of performances of his latest piece “Ma chambre froide” at the Théâtre de l'Odéon was sold out from the second performance. This piece not only tested the fact that France once again had an important contemporary playwright, but also that the French subsidy system could be helpful in his career. "

In Germany, the productions of the Compagnie Louis Brouillard made regular guest appearances at the New Pieces from Europe festivals in Wiesbaden and Perspectives Festival in Saarbrücken. In the 2010s, German-speaking theaters also began to stage his works. For example, the reunification of the two Koreas was shown at the Schauspiel Frankfurt , at the Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen and at the Vienna Burgtheater .

Pommerat's plays are published in France by Actes Sud , and in Germany by Merlin Verlag since 2014 .

Plays and productions (selection)

Awards (selection)

Joël Pommerat has been nominated for the Prix ​​Molière several times for his theatrical work .

Movie

  • Joël Pommerat - total theater. (OT: Joël Pommerat - Le théâtre comme absolu. ) Documentary film, France, 2018, 60 min., Script and direction: Blandine Armand, production: Zadig Productions, arte France, TV5 Monde , first broadcast: July 15, 2018 on arte, synopsis from ARD .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Anne Sennhauser: Une fiction théâtrale n'est pas raisonnable - Rencontre avec Joël Pommerat. In: L'Intermède , March 8, 2012, accessed on July 16, 2018.
  2. ↑ Nathalie Simon: La Compagnie Louis Brouillard, une “petite famille” In: Le Figaro (Paris), September 20, 2013, accessed on July 16, 2018.
  3. ↑ Ute Nyssen: What penetrates through narrow slits, theater letter from Paris (7) - Joël Pommerat founded his theater group 20 years ago. Now he is the theater maker of the hour - with plays about the laws of change and human metamorphosis. In: nachtkritik.de , May 2011, accessed on July 16, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Pommerat, Joël
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French actor, director, theater manager and author of stage works
DATE OF BIRTH February 28, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Roanne , Loire department