Old Times
English Title
Old Times
Director
Benoît Giros
Playwright
Harold Pinter
Year
2016
Form
Stage play
Duration
1h20mins
Where staged
Théâtre de L'Atelier, Paris
Synopsis
In their isolated house surrounded by nature, Deeley and Kate, a couple in their fifties, are waiting for Anna. Twenty years ago, the two women, Kate and Anna, started life together. They shared a small apartment in London and a common passion for all the arts. Since then, they have never seen each other again, and Deeley says that he does not know Anna. But is it so safe?
In their house by the sea, Deeley and his wife, Kate, await the arrival of Anna, her youthful friend whom she has never seen. Kate doesn't remember much and Deeley pretends not to know her. Anna's arrival is like a memory that is embodied. She remembers everything. The play is a dive into memory, the secrets and fantasies of this trio. The past resurfaces. But everyone has a completely different version. What happened to them 20 years ago? Who is telling the truth? Is anyone lying? Who is Anna? Is she a caring friend or a ghost from the past?
Production details
Old times
Text
Harold Pinter
French text by
French text by
Séverine Magois
Directed by
Benoit Giros
With
Marianne Denicourt,
Adèle Haenel
Emmanuel Salinger
Adèle’s role
Anna
Bande Annonce Old Times
Interview with Adèle & Emmanuel Salinger about Old Times
https://youtu.be/RXyyhqA4zUk
[If you don't understand French, then turn on captions—French auto generated;
then turn on 'auto translate' & select your language. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.]
[If you don't understand French, then turn on captions—French auto generated;
then turn on 'auto translate' & select your language. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good.]
Notes
As with all of Adèle’s work in the theatre, she continues to work with friends. This time she has moved from her buddies at Theatre de l’Argument and is working with friends that she made in 2012 when she was in her first professional role in the stage in La Mouette at the Festival d’Avignon, directed by Arthur Nauzyciel. Some reviews were a bit mixed, with some seeing Adèle as too young for the role she played (Anna). This type of comment suggests that those reviewers did not understand that Anna was a ghost from the past, so had not aged as the other two characters had.
Excerpts from interviews with Adèle about this role
This interview reinforces our understanding of Adèle choosing roles to extend herself and that she likes to work with friends. These are two of the major things that have defined Adèle's career choices.
“But there is no question of dropping the theatre:
“It is a place where you learn a lot, where you shake up your habits, you go off your own beaten track. It goes against letting go. “
In Theatre as in cinema, she favours projects “with people I like”. Director Benoît Giros and actor Emmanuel Salinger, who plays the male role in the play, were actors with her in “La Mouette” directed by Arthur Nauzyciel in Avignon in 2012. “We got along very well and from there came the idea to redo something together.”…
" For two years, I haven't had too much time to bubble, " she admits, smiling. " But the theater is not the same rhythm as the cinema, it's softer. In the cinema, you feel the economic pressure. A day of shooting is so expensive that you can't miss it! "
https://www.lexpress.fr/actualites/1/culture/adele-haenel-joue-cash-au-theatre-old-times-d-harold-pinter_1777369.html
“How did you end up in this Pinter Old Times?
I met Benoît Giros and Emmanuel Salinger while playing La Mouette directed by Arthur Nauzyciel and we wanted to do a project together. When Benoît came up with this piece, we realised that it was the one that evoked the most things for the three of us.”
I met Benoît Giros and Emmanuel Salinger while playing La Mouette directed by Arthur Nauzyciel and we wanted to do a project together. When Benoît came up with this piece, we realised that it was the one that evoked the most things for the three of us.”
Is it difficult to play?
Yes, but I'm very happy with it. It allows me to search for myself, for my life, for my own relationship to things. Finally, I do not answer you so much to teach you things to you, as to seek to progress myself!”
Does that move you forward?
Yes, the meeting with scenarios and especially theatre texts has changed my life. In cinema, it is especially important to live in the present moment; we have a familiarity, which goes beyond the idea, and which is due to a climate. It creates crazy solidarity.”
Website by director about the staging of the play
Excerpts from reviews (my bolding)
“In a very elegant setting by Alexandre de Dardel and the refined lights of Bertrand Couderc, Marianne Denicourt remains sumptuously beautiful and enigmatic while Adèle Haenel seduces with her astonishing vitality. Just for her two, the show is worth the detour.”
https://www.artistikrezo.com/spectacle/old-times-adele-haenel-et-marianne-denicourt-chez-pinter.html
“Of course, Adèle Haenel seems much too young for the role of Anna. She has more than twenty years of difference with Marianne Denicourt! So the choice of this actress by the director Benoit Giros confirms the fact that Kate and Deeley do not receive a friend in reality, but summon her ghost from twenty years ago, during a conversation on their past. Rarely has spectrum been embodied. And that's good! At Pinter, the actors should never intellectualize their acting. That of Adèle Haenel is frank, sometimes abrupt. She knows how to occupy a stage, she is amazing, we never take her eyes off her. Its partners Marianne Denicourt and Emmanuel Salinger are also excellent, very nuanced.”
Posters for the Production
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Photos from Behind the Scenes of the Production
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| Adèle on set |
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| Preparing for the performance |
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A model of the set  |
Photos from the Production
Taking a Bow
An Interview at the time Old Times was on (2016)
Here is an interview with Adèle when the play was on (or in rehearsal). She forgets to promote the play until the end of the clip. Most of the interview is about her film Les Ogres, and reminds us that through all these years she is juggling her career in feature films, short films and a substantial amount of work in the theatre.
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