Le Passé

Si vous pouviez lécher mon cœur / Julien Gosselin

For years, Julien Gosselin has been one of France's leading directors. His performances are all stunning theatrical experiences: grand, compelling and always in his signature style in which he merges theatre and film. From Michel Houellebecq to Roberto Bolaño and Don DeLillo. The thicker the literary works, the more Gosselin likes to sink his teeth into them. In Le Passé, dedicated to the oeuvre of Leonid Andreyev (1871-1919), the French director tackles historical characters for the first time. In his time, Andreyev was as popular as Gorky, but World War I erased his legacy. "His sentences," Gosselin writes, "dig a hole in your heart.

Run time 260 minutes, incl. intermission
Genre Theater
Language French
Surtitles Dutch, English

Show not recommended for children under 15

Dutch opening night Sat December 17

Le Passé

Ekaterina Ivanovna, tragic heroine of a story steeped in madness, fanaticism, radicalism, perfectly expresses Leonid Andreyev's profound thought: "life is a frightening and incomprehensible thing". Faced with the delusions of her husband, who falsely accuses her of infidelity, she will sink into debauchery. The only way for her to respond to the suffocation of a patriarchal society that dooms her to nothingness.-|- Gosselin takes you on a journey through 19th-century Russia and the early 1960s. In the style of filmmakers Godard and Truffaut and with a rock-solid cast, Le Passé delves into the abyss of love. The stage becomes a crossroads in time: historic costumes, candlelight and ancient sets are mixed with live music and present-day video footage.

Julien Gosselin on Le Passé

By Andreyev's text, my new show will draw a similar circle. One that tells us that the future is the past. It will be a tribute to extinct art and humanity, to dark times seen from space, when men walked as a group in the snow.

I will work with video, music and a company consisting of the same actors I have always worked with as well as some newcomers. The play will explore new ideas as I will work with paintings, chassis, footlights with candles, old costumes that will merge with the camera, glass spaces and today's images. There will be painted landscapes, bourgeois salons, winter gardens and musicians in the orchestra pit.

Reviews

Les Echos

'An extraordinary performance: lavish, overwhelming, unforgettable.'

Télérama

'A slap in the face. A magisterial performance where one comes out staggered and bewildered.'

CREDITS

text Léonid Andreev
traduction André Markowicz
adaptation and stage directing Julien Gosselin
with Guillaume Bachelé, Joseph Drouet, Denis Eyriey, Carine Goron, Victoria Quesnel, Achille Reggiani et Maxence Vandevelde
scenographer Lisetta Buccellato
dramaturgy Eddy d’Aranjo
stage director assistant Antoine Hespel
musical creation Guillaume Bachelé and Maxence Vandevelde
lighting designer Nicolas Joubert
video designer Jérémie Bernaert and Pierre Martin
sound designer Julien Feryn
costumes Caroline Tavernier and Valérie Simmoneau
props creation Guillaume Lepert
masks Lisetta Buccellato and Salomé Vandendriessche
general stage manager Léo Thévenon
stage operator Simon Haratyk, David Ferré
light operator Zélie Champeau
sound operator Hugo Hamman, Jules Lotscher
video operator Céline Bariul, David Dubost, Baudouin Rencurel
costumes operator Florence Tavernier
technical trainees Pierrick Guillou, Audrey Meunier
administration, production, touring Eugénie Tesson
tour organization Marion Le Strat-|-
administration Olivier Poujol
technical director Nicolas Ahssaine
set construction and painted canvas Workshop Devineau
production Si vous pouviez lécher mon coeur
coproduction Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe / Festival d’Automne à Paris, Le Phénix Scène Nationale Valenciennes pôle européen de création, Théâtre National de Strasbourg, Théâtre du Nord, CDN Lille-Tourcoing Hauts-de-France, Les Célestins, Théâtre de Lyon / Théâtre National Populaire, Maison de la culture d’Amiens, L’Empreinte, scène nationale Brive Tulle, Château Rouge, Scène conventionnée d’Annemasse, Comédie de Genève, Wiesbaden Biennale, La passerelle Scène Nationale de Saint-Brieuc, Scène Nationale d’Albi, Romaeuropa
with the help of Ministry of Culture
with the artistic participation of Jeune Théâtre National
with the support of Montévidéo, centre d’art, and T2G Gennevilliers

Julien Gosselin and Si vous pouviez lécher mon coeur are partners of Le Phénix Scène Nationale Valenciennes, the Théâtre National de Strasbourg and of Théâtre Nanterre Amandiers

Si vous pouviez lécher mon coeur is under contract with the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, DRAC Hauts-de-France, and agreed by la Région Hautsde-France and la Ville de Calais. The compagny beneficits the support of the Institut français for his tour abroad.