Day 43. Trois Hommes Verts (2014)

Trois Hommes Verts (2014)

English Title

     Three Green Men

Director

     Valérie Mréjen

Playwright

      Valérie Mréjen

Year

     2014

Form

     Stage play for children & adults ('from 5 years')

Where staged

     2014: March 8-21, Le Théâtre de Gennevilliers

     2014: 25-27 April, Pompidou Centre, Paris

     2014: 13-17 May, CDN/Orléans/Loiret/Centre

Duration

     45 minutes

Adèle’s role

     Tadbidasse. The boss Martian.

Synopsis

     One night, a child's dreams are transformed into a pictorial narration while three green men communicate in an invented language and

create sounds from everyday objects. In his sleep, the child integrates these sound effects and his animated dreams come true before our eyes. Martians, naturally telepathic, soon realize their power...

Three green men

    One night, a child's dreams are transformed into a pictorial narrative where three green men invite and communicate in a language invented from everyday objects.

A sleeping child dreams of three aliens traveling in a flying saucer and landing on Earth. Emerging from their spacecraft, they discover, in drawers and on shelves, objects of daily life which they do not know the use of: utensils, tools, food ... Interested, they seek to understand what all these things can be used. During their tests and manipulations, they begin to produce sounds corresponding to phenomena well known to earthlings: fire, rain, wind ... In his sleep, the child integrates these sound effects and projects himself in dreams into unexpected situations, in the midst of objects that have changed scale. His lively dream comes true before our eyes. Martians, naturally telepathic, soon realize their power…

Three green men is a plastic and sound proposal which establishes a dialogue between gestures performed on stage by the actors and animated films projected on a screen. The piece is built around everyday objects, narrative processes and an original sound creation.

About the production

     Mise en scène: Valérie Mréjen

     Décor: Kiko Herrero et Cyril Moulinié

     Lumière Abigail Fowler

     Création sonore additionnelle & Régie Générale: Simon Muller

     Costumes: Sophie Lifshitz

     Animation video: Thaïs Coutinho

     Création marionette: Gisèle Vienne

     Bruitage: Xavier Drouault

avec

     Pascal Cervo

     Adèle Haenel

     Gaëtan Vourc’h

et 

     Marie Losier

Footage from the production 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeOQsVuhANg

This video includes an interview with Adèle (in French)

https://www.centrepompidou.fr/media/video/16/86/1686801a22e20d6203d708a5874eff2b/normal.mp4

About the play

      “A child dozes off on his book and his eyes barely close when a flying saucer lands in his room. Three green men emerge from it, speaking in Martian language. Intrigued by the objects they discover in the boxes, they begin to manipulate them, crumple them, knock them, scratch them, rattle them. Bubble plastic, ping pong ball, celery leaf, funnel, string, bread stick, adhesive tape become the instruments for tinkering with the soundtrack of the child's dreams, projected on the screen in the form of animations. The soundscapes created live by the green men (the phlegmatic Gaëtan Vourc'h, the leprechaun Pascal Cervo and the boss Adèle Haenel) influence and shape daydreams. Show by visual artist Valérie Mréjen, graphic and minimal, Three Green Men pays homage to sound effects and their ability to bring up worlds with three times nothing. We would have liked more fantasy in the visual part. For all, from 5 years old.”

https://next.liberation.fr/theatre/2014/03/10/des-hommes-verts-dj-de-reves_985996

Adèle Haenel: The Boss This is the first time, I believe, that Adèle is referred to as "the boss Adèle Haenel". In context, it is actually referring to her role as the head Martian, not her greatness more generally, but I find it amusing that this greatness was recognised so early. "Adèle Haenel declared Lord of the Lesbians"   I am proud that SBS Australia is smart enough to recognise Adèle's supremacy! https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/pride/fast-lane/article/2020/03/12/french-actress-adele-haenel-declared-lord-lesbians-viral-video

“Inspired by noise makers and their surprising and inventive way of reproducing sounds, Valérie Mréjen reveals the hidden side of objects in a poetic fable. A sleeping child dreams of three aliens traveling in a saucer and landing on Earth. Emerging from their spacecraft, they discover objects of daily life which they do not know the use of: utensils, tools, food ... Interested, they seek to understand what these things are for.

During their tests and manipulations, the Martians produce sounds that evoke terrestrial phenomena: fire, rain, wind... In his sleep, the child integrates these noises and projects himself into dreams in unexpected situations. His lively dream comes true before our eyes. Green men, naturally telepathic, realize their power.”

https://www.centrepompidou.fr/id/cL9gEKk/r4ekEo/fr”

Reviews

“The three actors enchant us, like the recently Caesarized Adèle Haenel who takes undisguised pleasure in playing Martian leaders or Gaëtan Vourc'h who continues to deploy her extraterrestrial silhouette to the sound of these strange musics. A jubilant spectacle that lasts no more than a dream (45 mins), a light parenthesis that reminds us of our childhood and our night fears. A performance that does not take children for idiots but invites them to imagine the dialogues between Martians and to let themselves be carried away by dreams.”

http://chauffemarcel.over-blog.com/2014/03/mars-contre-attaque.html

“A playful and wacky creation full of sounds, noises and tricks.”

Emmanuelle Jardonnet, Le Monde, March 14, 2014

Notes

• This production was not long after Adèle had been awarded the Best Actress in a Second Role César Award. This play shows that she is not driven by ego, but a passion for her art. 
• This play looks like lots of crazy fun and demonstrates that Adèle is devoid of being 'too precious' or a diva. This is impressive in a young actress (she had just turned 25) who has just won a major national award. The playfulness and 
• Valerie Mjeren, the creator and director of this play, directed Adèle in En Ville (2011).
• One of the other Green Men, Pascal Cervo, was also in En Ville.
• Never be deluded that theatre, or books, for children are easier to make than works for adults. Children are a very tough audience and do not hide their feelings!
• Again, there is a "Meet the Team" event (16 May 2014) for community education. I just love the community engagement and education that the theatre Adèle is involved in participates in.
• Gisèle Vienne was the creator of puppets for this production.

Valerie Mjeren: Director, Artist, Author, Filmmaker

Valerie is talented in multiple fields—as well as directing a feature film screened at Cannes (En Ville, 2011) and devising & directing a children’s play, she has also published multiple books and is a visual artist.

Developing the Sounds and the ‘Martian language’: A collaboration of director & the actors

The director and the actors collaborated to create the sounds used in the play using common objects and created a language for the green men to speak.

Sounds

“The artist and his team of comedians worked with the movie sounder Xavier Drouault to build the show. For five weeks of testing and experimentation based on sounds. Far from being silent, this play is teeming with bizarre extraterrestrial phrases, sort of onomatopoeias interspersed with French, English, Japanese or German. The two boys even won a name there: Bidasseto and Bidassat, condensed into Tadbidasse for their somewhat authoritarian commander-in-chief, who ends her orders with Eksasaute!."

https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2014/03/14/trois-hommes-verts-la-vie-revee-des-bruits_4383391_3246.html

Language

“We collectively invented a Martian language on the set. These are words that one could recognize, especially in writing, but which are each time bordering on comprehensible, which mix French, Latin, Hebrew, etc. It is very much in line with my taste for certain currents of sound poetry. For example, we listened to Kurt Schwitters' Ursonate. We were also inspired by Charles Chaplin in Les Temps Modernes who, while dancing, loses the headline on which the words of the song he was to sing in public were written, and improvises a real gibberish.”

https://slash-paris.com/articles/entretien-valerie-mrejen

An article & podcast recorded at about this time:

“Adèle Haenel: I prefer to put on a green leotard rather than going to dinner at Fouquet’s”

Images from the production

I love that Adèle has just won a top acting award and
she is still happy to be silly for her art (& for the kids!)
The celery makes great sound effects.

What I would do to see this show!

Taking a bow

Adèle at the Centre Pompidou for Trois Hommes Verts (24 March 2014)

Adele at the Pompidou Centre, Paris, for Trois Hommes Verts 24 April 2014

Adele at the Pompidou Centre, Paris, for Trois Hommes Verts 24 April 2014

Day 42. La Mouette Unplugged (2014)

La Mouette: Unplugged

Note: This photo is not from the La Mouette: Unplugged event.
 It is from the Festival Avignon production (2012).

English Title

     The Seagull: Unplugged

Director
     Arthur Nauzyciel
Playwright

     Anton Tchekov

Year

     7 January 2014, 7pm

Form

     An “unplugged” performance of the production of Tchekov’s La Mouette in the rehearsal room of the National Dramatic Centre in Orléans. This production of La Mouette was first performed at the Avignon Festival in 2012, which then toured the regions.

Staged

     The rehearsal room of the National Dramatic Center Orléans/Loiret/Center.

Synopsis

     Irina, an ageing actress, along with her lover, Boris, visits her brother Konstantin at his country estate. Nina, a neighbour who is in a relationship with Konstantin, falls in love with Boris.

Production details

     A performance in a rehearsal space without sets or costumes: Unplugged.

     With Marie-Sophie Ferdane, Xavier Gallais, Vincent Garanger, Benoit Giros, Adèle Haenel, Mounir, Margoum, Laurent Poitrenaux, Dominique Reymond, Emmanuel Salinger, Catherine Vuoulez and the musician Matt Elliott.

Video

    I have not been able to find any video from this event. 

[Sorry. There is very little information available about this one-off event.]

Adèle’s role

     Macha

Notes

This event was a simple performance of the play in the rehearsal space of the National Dramatic Centre Orléans/Loiret/Center, Paris. No sets, not costume, just the text and the actors. There is very little information about this event. 

The director of La Mouette, Arthur Nauzyciel, was the head of the National Dramatic Centre, Orléan about 100km south-west of Paris, where this event was held. It was, as it says below, both a reunion and farewell for the cast, who had performed the play together since July 2012, 18 months earlier, at the Avignon Festival. It sounds like this was a way for them to come together and make theatre and celebrate what they had achieved as a team, as well as say some farewells, as this event was the last performance of the production.

“After successfully traveling from the immensity of the Court of Honor in Avignon, on the plateaux from Orléans, Bordeaux, Clermont Ferrand, Tarbes, Valenciennes, Reims, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Nice, Lorient, Créteil, the show is resumed this season at T2G, CDN de Gennevilliers, then at Châteauroux and Vire. You were the first to having discovered it after its creation at the Avignon Festival: on the eve from premiere to T2G, Arthur Nauzyciel and his team you invite to a unique evening in the CDN Workshop, our room rehearsal, where we will replay La Mouette in simplicity of the place.

‘Unplugged’, as we say of an acoustic concert, that is to say without electric instruments. This is the story of this exceptional adventure, artistic and human, whose actors and actresses of La Mouette are today carriers, who will serve as decor, costumes and lights, thus testifying to the evocative power of a text that they’ve been going through for a year and half. Between reality and fiction, work session and representation intimate where actors and characters merge, this recovery time before take off shared with the spectators will be, as in the play, both reunion and a farewell.”

https://www.theatredorleans.fr/upload/document/cdn/FILE_51cda9292fe7c_cdn_digest_13_14_complet.pdf/cdn_digest_13_14_complet.pdf

Images

Day 41: Trilogie Mayenburg: Voir Clair (2013-2015)

Trilogie Mayenburg: Voir Clair

English Title

     Mayenberg Trilogy: Seeing Clearly

Director

      Maîa Sandoz

Year

     2013-2015

Form

     Stage play

Duration

     Voir Clair: 55 mins

     Duration of the Trilogie Mayenburg: 3h30 minutes (intermission between Voir Clair and Perplexe included)

Synopsis

     Julia is looking for work. She accepts to be the cleaning lady of Mr Walter, who lives alone since his wife died, several years ago. Julia then becomes aware of the numerous manias of her new employer: she must tidy up the house without making the least noise, she must not ventilate the apartment, nor even open the curtains, she must cook the same fricassee of veal with mushrooms, every day. And the most important thing: she is totally forbidden to enter the locked bedroom which Walter enters from time to time. Julia adapts to the demands of Walter, motivated by the theft of a necklace, which must surely be hidden somewhere in the apartment. Julia hears strange noises coming from the forbidden room, human groans (?) Which make her more and more curious. When Julia discovers a woman's dress in the basket of dirty linen, she decides to discover Walter's secret. Behind the door hides a blind young woman, Pauline, who waits for Walter, her dad, locked up in her room every day, a dad who would have cracked long ago if she hadn't been sitting in the little bed for 17 years , as if nothing had changed, a dad who disguises himself as a mom, and who plays with his wife's clothes, and together they play with his jewellery. Julia runs away in horror, Pauline and Walter will no doubt be separated.

Adèle’s role

     The girl.

Trailer

Notes

Voir Clair (Seeing Clearly) is the second play that was presented as part of the Trilogie Mayenburg by Théâtre de l’Argument, the theatre group founded in 2006 by this play’s director Maîa Sandoz and actor Paul Moulin.

"Voir Clair is a tragedy about blindness, or how we fix reality when we refuse it. Here, we plunge into a more dramatic, darker work, we are totally in the fable, without the narrative distance of Le Moche. A fantastic tale which is not far from the impressive Bluebeard in its dramatic tension, here each one plays his role, a face to face between a man and a woman, an in camera of an extremely disturbing sweetness."

Maîa Sandoz, Director
(Translated from the program)

Another example of community and public engagement: Meet the Artistic Team event after the performance

 

Meet with Théâtre de l’Argument

[06.02.16 after the performance]

"The artistic team of the Théâtre de l'Argument invites you to stay in the auditorium after the performance on February 6 for an informal meeting around the evening devoted to two plays by Marius von Mayenburg: Le Moche et Perplexe .

The opportunity to share your impressions of the show, ask all the questions that stuck in your head during the performance or simply discover all the creative work carried out by the Théâtre de l'Argument.

THEATRE L'ARGUMENT

L'Argument has existed since 2006. It offers a theatre of actors, riveted to contemporary scriptures and defends demanding, radical and terrifying dramaturgies, a theatre of proximity (physical, political, emotional) by setting up devices that question the relationship to the spectators. The objects created are polymorphic (theatre, performances, cinema, workshop), with a pronounced taste for pieces whose subjects revolve recurrently around illusion, identity, freedom.

Often funny, always relentless texts which allow us to question the process of representation. No a priori vision, but research, excavation, work upstream of a creation inseparable from the life of its members. And on the sets: playful, transvestite, monstrous, ambivalent bodies: Adèle Haenel, Aurélie Verillon, Paul Moulin, Gilles Nicolas, Serge Biavan, Vincent Furic, Celine Pérot, Michel Durantin, Hakim Romatif, James Joint, Mona abdel Hadi, Sinan Bertrand, among others…”

http://www.3t-chatellerault.fr/moments-partages/rencontres/poursuites-avec-le-theatre-de-l-argument

(translated by Google)

I love the commitment to education—both school education & community education— shown by the artists.

Reviews

Reviews for the show are all very positive, praising the selection of the plays, the staging, and the performances. Here is another review.

“Maïa Sandoz had the good idea to bring together three plays by Marius von Mayenburg, playwright associated with the Schaubühne in Berlin, in a triptych on the questions of identity and illusion, which, all independent, enrich each other with this set of mirrors, the abyss of the sets of mirrors installed by Mayenburg.  In Le Moche, a scientist, very proud of his invention, is deprived of making the presentation at a conference because it is too ugly and from a marketing point of view, he does not pass. He has no awareness of his ugliness but lets himself be convinced to undergo cosmetic surgery, which makes him dazzlingly beautiful. However, soon after, clones appear around him that make him banal and he dreams only of regaining his initial ugliness. Important detail, from start to finish, is that the faces of the characters remain identical.

In a space of sobriety inversely proportional to the madness of the text (a table, a few chairs, a sofa, green plants, a giant painted canvas representing a mountainous landscape), the four actors each play several roles in a sort of imperceptible slip which takes on delusional proportions in Perplexe. Here, one would think that the writer throws into a hat a handful of situations and characters which, according to a random drawing, combine until the vertigo. A couple returned from vacation receives friends charged with watering their plants in their absence; without warning, the latter take the place of the former, who then take leave; the friend becomes the son, the woman turns into a babysitter, identities are soluble in each other. So in a succession of surrealist glides, Mayenburg puts the myth of Plato's cave into situations, playing with reality that he dismantles as we dismantle the decor at the end of the show. Like the other two pieces, Voir Clair, Modern Blue Beard, unraveling reality, to open doors to reverie, theatrical illusion.

This dizzying whirlwind is brilliantly led by excellent actors, Serge Biavan, Christophe Danvin, Paul Moulin, Aurélie Vérillon and the young Adèle Haenel, César for best actress 2015 for Les Combattants , a doping and original film. She shows a strong personality and deploys comic talents of a beautiful singularity. They form a shock team led with great mastery by Maïa Sandoz in this confusing and hilarious acrobatic exercise of deconstruction of reality.”

https://www.webtheatre.fr/Le-Moche-Voir-clair-Perplexe-de

(translated by Google translate)

Images from the production

The team relaxing the day before the premier of the Trilogie Mayenburg

Dismantling the set (Feb 2 2015, in preparation for a new season)

Taking the show to the regions at a fabulous festival

Day 40. Trilogie Mayenburg: Perplexe (2013-6)

Trilogie Mayenburg: Perplexe

English Title

     Mayenberg Trilogy: Perplexed (or ‘Puzzled’)

Director

     Maïa Sandroz

Playwright

     Marius von Mayenburg

Year

     2013-2016

Form

     Stage play

Where staged

     Théâtre de Ringis, Théâtre des Quartiers d'Ivry, Théâtre Paris-Vilette, Théâtre de la Générale

Duration

     Perplexe: 1h10mins

    Trilogie Mayenburg: 3h30 mins (including intermission between Voir Clair & Perplexe)

Synopsis

PERPLEXE

     A couple, Eva and Robert, return home after the holidays, another couple of friends Judith and Sebastien, were supposed to take care of the plants during their absence, however it seems that they became the occupants of the apartment and throw Eva and Robert out of their house, later they come back but are no longer the same Eva and Robert as at the beginning, they are now the son of Judith and Sebastien: Robert and his nanny, Eva. Then we are witnessing a series of shifts in identity and even reality: Robert is an SS but also a skier, Sebastian is first of all a momentum and will come out, Eva disguises herself in a volcano to end up starving… Individuals running after insurance and security tossed about in a disintegrated reality, which slide on metaphysical banana peels that the author has thrown in their path, until the total deconstruction of the representation itself.

Adèle’s role
     Maybe Judith or Eva. These are names mentioned in notes, but I have not yet been able to find a definitive answer to this.

Each actor takes on a couple of roles in the play. One article about this play, but not this production, says: “The four actors play musical chairs with their characters in an astonishing tumble of scenes.”

[Another possibility is ‘Adèle’ as, in the script, playwright Marius von Mayenburg suggests actors use their own names in the show. This add another layer of complexity to the play and its themes of identity and theatrical representation.]

Trailer for the show

This is the same trailer as for Le Moche, as I am yet to find more footage from this production.
I will update when I do.

Notes

    This play was performed third in the trilogy of von Mayenburg plays in this production by Maîa Sandoz (we will look at the second one, Voir Clair, tomorrow). I have not been able to find any footage of the play, apart from the short trailer, though there are some (dead) links to footage that was shown on French television. This is disappointing. Hopefully footage will emerge over time. [If you find any please let me know so that I can link to it.]

Reviews indicate that this production by Maîa Sandoz was very good and all reviews were positive. It looks like it was a fabulous production.

Theatre L'Argument

'The Gang' from Trilogie Mayenburg
[Note photo of Adèle on the table...]

Many of the performers in this trilogy of plays are part of many of the productions of Théâtre de l’Argument, which was founded in 2006 by Maïa Sandoz (seated in hat in photo) and Paul Moulin (grey jacket, third from right). This suggests to me that they have a fun time making theatre together. Many of the productions also tour, which also suggests a group of people who get on well together.

Adèle, Maïa & Paul all appeared in Bertrand Bonello's  L'Apollonide (2012).

Reviews

Trilogie Mayenburg:

“… Five actors including a musician for close to twenty characters from the three short plays of Marius Von Mayenburg: five accomplished athletes, Serge Biavan, Adèle Haenel, Paul Moulin, Aurélie Vérillon, Christophe Danvin. That economy is the least of courtesies -and performances- for an author who also wants incisive boning mundane relationships, at work, in the family, to the absurd (...)

The setting stage, in the concrete sense of the term (the actors move the material on sight), the occupation of space, the work of sound: all this is impeccable. The acting is a pure delight: they too can, with a helping hand, a pin, change their character, their mood, slide from one to the other in the service of clarity about.

With this little something more, this barely underlined trait, which makes you laugh. We are told that this show lasts three hours (with an intermission and very good carrot cakes)? Incredible, it lasts just long enough to savor it, as the economy is fair and precise.”

Christine Friedel- blog theater (translated by Google!)

“Seasoned or not, the four actors are great, let’s name them: Adèle Haenel, the youngest, Aurélie Verillon and Serge Biavan, all three work for the first times with Maïa Sandoz. And Paul Moulin, the eldest, artistic collaborator of the latter and co-founder with her of the Argument heatre. Moulin and Sandoz animate with others this artistic cooperative that is the Générale where the Mayenburg trilogy takes place, everything as nourishing and made with care as the homemade sandwiches on sale.”

[I just love that both these mention the snacks. Carrot cake and homemade sandwiches, according to the translation—what a night!]

Adèle & Maîa supporting education

     In March 2015 Adèle and Maîa went to a school to discuss the plays Perplex and Le Moche and the staging of the plays with teenaged students. What an opportunity for these students and it says such fantastic things about the role of theatre in education in France and about these two women!

For context: In March 2015 Adèle had recently won the Best Actress César Award, having won the Best Actress in a Second Role César Award the previous year. She had been recognised as the best actress in the country and she took the time to spend time with school students! This speaks volumes of her commitment to her art and her generosity in sharing her time with young people.

From a report about the school visit:

     “We continue on Perplexed. Adèle Haenel warns us: you have to let yourself be carried away by the piece, which functions like a mechanism that gradually gets carried away. The characters, over the text, become others through games of alliance and rejection. The director tells us about its origins: the four actors who created the show are well known to the spectators and, in fact, the show also works on winks that escape us. However, when we find ourselves at the heart of this frenzied epic in the evening, we are completely carried away by the flow of incongruous events which follow one another, a man with a dash of momentum, a child in Nazi uniform, a maid who is martyred, the actors have a great time and their slaughter makes us totally happy!”

When a student asks Adèle why she became an actress:

 "Adèle Haenel tells us that from the age of five, she took acting lessons, which she followed up very quickly, a first film at 12, another at 17, a break for studies and a return to school, cinema and theater. As for the question of the envy of the profession, she is open: "when I was in high school, I had the impression of playing a role, suddenly, it seemed natural to me to do theater, but it was not that much because the question that arises is: where are we true? In life or on stage? " The mask… the identity, we come back to it, it ties in with the themes that we tackled while studying the theater… She also tells us that she did not have an “official” training (a school, a conservatory) and that, finally, it is not worse because it is also what drives her to work a lot to advance in her profession." 

They speak to the students about the origins of the play and their involvement:

“And this show, together, how was it born? Maïa Sandoz is also an actress and the two met on a set. A few ping-pong games, shared beers, outings to the theatre with friends and hop! The desire to work together at the theatre was born! The clock has turned. We meet at the theatre in the Ivry neighborhoods for the performance. Two and a half hours of theatrical madness, a madness which seems unimaginable but which nevertheless pitilessly describes the world in which we live and its absurdities. A funny and catchy madness carried by comedians with a frantic pace.”

The production's program

• http://www.largument.org/s/MAYENBURG_LARGUMENT.pdf

and the program from the 2015/6 production

Images from the show

Paul Moulin (co-founder of Théâtre de l’Argument) & Adèle Haenel in Perplexe.
Paul was also in L'Apollonide with Adèle & Maia.

On tour with the show

Some early thoughts on French theatre

From the reading that I have done so far on Adèle’s work in the theatre I have had the following thoughts:

• Admission fees are modest and some events are free
• Most plays are available to tour the regions
• Most plays are supported by grants
• Many plays have supporting materials (dossier pédagogique) available to support school teachers in teaching their students about the play

I find all of these things very impressive!