Théâtre du Soleil
The French theater collective Théâtre du Soleil [teatrdysɔ'lej] was founded in 1964 by Ariane Mnouchkine and Philippe Léotard , with the help of Jean-Claude Penchenat, Roberto Moscoso and Françoise Tournafond. Mnouchkine founded the company after completing training with Jacques Lecoq . The cosmopolitan troupe has its main venue at the gates of Paris, in the old ammunition factory in Vincennes ( La Cartoucherie ), where other theater groups are still based today.
History of the Théâtre du Soleil
The name of the theater is an allusion to the work La città del Sole , which describes a communist utopia that the Théâtre du Soleil tries to realize in a certain way. The Théâtre du Soleil sees itself as a politically active theater that is socially critical of the want to influence social reality and "change the conditions under which we live" (Ariane Mnouchkine). It is based on the theater of the Far East and Greek tragedy as well as on the traditions of popular theater such as the Commedia dell'arte . The group acquired the methods and techniques of body theater in the school of Jacques Lecoq and works today with the means of pantomime , cabaret , acrobatics and improvisation . The Théâtre du Soleil achieved its international breakthrough with the three-part Shakespeare cycle (King Richard II , King Henry IV and What you want ) and the production in 1789. The dramaturgical inclusion of the audience in the action is crucial for performance practice: as a co-actor he is asked to understand the impulses for changing reality that are inherent in the action.
Ariane Mnouchkine tries to turn every performance into a festival at the Théâtre du Soleil, and she receives the audience personally as a ticket taker. Mnouchkine likes to integrate techniques from Japan or China into her pieces and there are always a few musicians with them to accompany her piece. Her productions no longer reap the international enthusiasm that they did a few years ago, but they are still an experience.
In 1978 Ariane Mnouchkine made a monumental film about the life story of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known under the name " Molière ". 120 actors, 600 extras, 1300 costumes and 220 locations were used to bring the world and century of the poet to life. In rushing images of a time full of contradictions, marked by bitter poverty and decadent luxury, hypocrisy and free-thinking, cruel repression and extravagant folk festivals, the poignant story of a man who fights tirelessly for his art to the point of exhaustion is told.
Important productions and films
- 1789, adapted by Ariane Mnouchkine au cinéma avec la Troupe du Soleil (1970)
- L'âge d'or (1975)
- Molière, ou la vie d'un honnête homme , a film by Ariane Mnouchkine (1978)
- Méphisto . Le roman d'une carrière d'après Klaus Mann (1979–1980) Adaptation and direction: Ariane Mnouchkine
- Richard II , Henry IV by Shakespeare (1981),
- Shakespeare's La Nuit des Rois (1982)
- L'histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge by Hélène Cixous (1985)
- The Atrids: Iphigenia on Tauris by Euripides and the Orestie by Aeschylus ( Agamemnon, Die Choephoren, Die Eumeniden ) (1990–1993)
- La Ville parjure by Hélène Cixous
- Tartuffe by Molière (1995)
- Et soudain des nuits d'éveil , collective creation (1997)
- Tambours sur la digue by Hélène Cixous (1999), filmed by Ariane Mnouchkine in 2001
- Le dernier Caravansérail , collective creation (2005)
- Les Ephémères , collective creation, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine (2007)
- Les Naufragés du Fol Espoir (Aurores) , texts écrit en partie par Hélène Cixous et inspiré de Jules Verne, production: Ariane Mnouchkine (2010)
literature
Josette Féral: Ariane Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil. With photographs by Martine Franck . Alexander Verlag Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3-89581-043-5
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Horst Schumacher: Mnouchkine, Ariane , in Theaterlexikon 2 , p. 495
- ↑ Les Éphémères. (No longer available online.) In: arte.tv. Arte, archived from the original on March 3, 2016 ; Retrieved April 17, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
