LABOO7
Third selection of plays in French and other languages
Winter 2011
PLAYS IN FRENCH:
Petite Poucet by Claudine Galea, Editions Espaces 34 / for age 6 and above
Jojo le récidiviste by Joseph Danan, Editions Actes Sud-Papiers / for age 7 and above
Les Orphelines by Marion Aubert, Editions Actes Sud-Papiers / for age 10 and above
L’Ogrelet by Suzanne Lebeau, Editions Théâtrales / for age 8 and above
Mon fantôme by Pascal Rambert / for age 4-5 and above
We have added a few other texts to this LABOO7 selection as we also read and enjoyed:
Les ratés by Natacha de Pontcharra, Editions Quartett / traverser la frontière
Une journée de Paul by Dominique Richard, Editions Théâtrales
Zoom by Gilles Granouillet, Editions Lansman / for age 14 and above
PLAYS IN OTHER LANGUAGES:
He was born in May by Federica Iacobelli (Italy),translated from the Italian by Olivier Martinaud and Eleonora Ribis
Venezuelaby Guy Helminger (Luxembourg), translated from the German by Anne Monfort, Editions Théâtrales
Senseby Anja Hilling (Germany), translated from the German by Silvia Berutti-Ronelt, Editions Lansman
The Day Dan Died by Rasmus Lindberg (Sweden), translated from the Swedish by Marianne Ségol and Karin Serres, Editions Espace 34.
My Life as a Detective by Malin Axelsson (Sweden), translated from the Swedish by Marianne Ségol / for age 4 and above
We also read and enjoyed:
Minefield by Pamela Dürr (Germany), translated from the German by Karin Serres
I.D. by Rasmus Lindberg (Sweden). As yet untranslated.
We hope that some of these plays will touch you and move you to share them with your audience and/or other professionals and to translate them so that they may be read, staged, broadcast or form the object of projects involving their authors in your country.
We are looking forward greatly to receiving the next batch of plays from your national committee so that we might draw inspiration from it for the theatrical work we have in common and get to know the living, committed theatre for young people in your country.
Several times a year our national LABOO7 committees will select and send each other new plays. This reading and exchange of opinions will help us get to know each other, our authors, our styles, our sensibilities, our practices and our problems. This should help us to work together to build up a new European repertoire of drama for young people as a starting point for all our trans-national artistic experiences.
Have fun reading them!
March 2011 – LABOO7/French committee
FRENCH PLAYS
Jojo le récidiviste[Jojo Reoffends]by Joseph Danan (France), Editions Actes Sud-Papiers, “Heyoka Jeunesse” collection / for age 7 and above
Summary: Jojo has made a habit of doing stupid things. He wants to speak. His mother slaps him. He stacks chairs. His mother slaps him. He batters fruit. His mother slaps him. He knocks vases over, he cuts the stems off flowers; he dirties, wrecks and burns anything there is to dirty, wreck or burn. The play is a finely tuned interplay between a provocative child and a mother who always snaps back. A text without words where the sound of the mother’s slap marks the end of each scene.
Cast: 2 men, 1 woman, 4 children. Played by three actresses in the first performance.
Additional information: First performance at the Espace des Arts (Chalon-sur-Saône) directed by Joël Jouanneau and Delphine Lamand (Nov 2007). Translated into Portuguese by Isabel Lopes and performed at the São João National Theatre in Porto in October 2011 by the Teatro da Rainha company (directed by Paolo Calatré and Fernando Mora Ramos).
Biography: Born in Oran in 1951, Joseph Danan is a writer, teaches at the Institut d’Études Théâtrales and is Alain Bézu’s dramatist, who was director of the Théâtre des Deux Rives until 2007. His plays have been staged by Alain Bézu, Jacques Kraemer, Julien Bouffier, Jean Deloche, Jean-Frédéric Chevallier (Mexico City), Gilbert Rault, Frédéric Bocquet and Jacques Bonnaffé among others.
Selected bibliography:Allégeance, novel, Gallimard, “L’Infini”, 1992; Cinéma, Lansman, 2001; Sous l’écran silencieux, Lansman, 2002; R. S/Z. Impromptu Spectre, Théâtre Ouvert, “Tapuscrits”, 2002; Les Aventures d’Auren, le petit serial killer, Actes Sud-Papiers, “Heyoka Jeunesse”, 2003; Enquêtes du désir, trois pièces (La Nuit même, L’Enquête de ma vie, Les Amants imparfaits), Lansman, 2003; De la Révolution, Actes Sud-Papiers, 2007; A la poursuite de l’oiseau du sommeil, Actes Sud-Papiers, “Heyoka Jeunesse”, 2010; Qu’est-ce que la dramaturgie?, essay, Actes Sud-Papiers, “Apprendre”, 2010; L'Atelier d'écriture théâtrale, with Jean-Pierre Sarrazac, Actes Sud-Papiers, “Apprendre”, 2012.
Why we chose this text: This is a fun, burlesque text made up entirely of stage directions. The language is expressive and full of rhythm and humour - a real comedy!
Author’s comments: “I wanted to pare down the spoken word (further than I’d ever done before) in an attempt to create a style based on gestures and movement from my own perspective as an author, in my own territory - text. And to base my style on gags.”
Mon fantôme [My Ghost] by Pascal Rambert / for age 4-5 and above
Translations: Swedish
Summary: A child invents an imaginary character to talk to him so he can fall asleep. The character’s name is My Ghost. The voices of the child and his ghost interweave to carry us off, through paintings, into an imaginary world where the real world tips over into the realm of dreams.
Cast: 2 characters
Additional information: Commissioned by France Culture on the theme of painting. The play was written for the creative radio workshop, produced by Frank Smith and directed by Blandine Masson in 2004.
Biography: Born in 1962, he is a playwright and theatre director. Having studied at the Chaillot School under Antoine Vitez, he founded his own theatre company called Side One Posthume Théâtre in 1984. He alternates between writing and directing. In 2007 he was appointed director of the Théâtre de Gennevilliers, taking over from its founder Bernard Sobel.
He has worked in France since the start of his career but he has not hesitated to work abroad either, in the United States and Japanfor example. Pascal Rambert does not stick to theatre. He has also directed short films such as Quand nous étions punk (2004), Car Wash (2005), Début (2006) and Avant que tu ne reviennes (2008).
Selected bibliography:De mes propres mains, 1997; Race, 1997; Long Island, 1998; Asservissement Sexuel Volontaire, 2000; Récit de la préparation de Gilgamesh jusqu’à la première répétition en Avignon, 2000; Le Début de L’A., 2001; Paradis (Un temps à déplier), 2004; Mon Fantôme (Cantate), 2004; éditions Actes Sud-Papiers; Le Réveil, 1988; Les Parisiens ou l’Eté de la mémoire des abeilles, 1989; John & Mary followed by Les Dialogues, 1992…
Why we chose this text: This is a wonderful play about the relations between reality and dream, day and night, seeing and looking. It’s a play that appeals to all our senses and stirs our imagination.
Author’s comments: “The idea for this text came to me from observing my son. When I put him to bed, he preferred the stories I made up to ones I read to him. One day he said to me, ‘At night I feel as if I’ve got a little ghost inside talking to me.’ I thought that his words referred to what I and all adults do: let my imagination roam as I drop off to sleep. (…) I wanted My Ghost to give children a chance to explore their imagination. In a tent. Under the covers. Wearing socks, eyes wide in the dark.”
L’Ogrelet [The Ogrelet] by Suzanne Lebeau (Canada), Editions Théâtrales / for age 8 and above
Summary: This is an updated version of ogre stories. The Ogrelet lives with his mother in a house deep in the forest some way from the nearest village. When he starts school he discovers that he isn’t like the other children. He’s the son of an ogre his mother was passionately in love with. He takes on three challenges to get rid of his thirst for blood and begin to grow up.
Cast: 2 characters: the ogrelet and the ogrelet’s mother.
Additional information: The Ogrelet was first performed on 6 October 1997 by Le Carrousel at the Espace Malraux, the National Theatre of Chambéry and Savoie, where it was directed by Gervais Gaudreault.
Biography: Born in Canada in 1948, Suzanne Lebeau studied literature and education as well as training as an actress before she began to write plays for children. From 1966 onwards she acted in productions of Molière, Ionesco and Stoppard. From 1970 to 1983 she taught writing for young audiences, in particular at the National Theatre School of Canada. In 1975 together with Gervais Gaudreault she founded Le Carrousel theatre company, for which she mainly writes and acts. She is now recognised as one of the world’s leading playwrights for young audiences. In 1998 the International Assembly of French-speaking parliamentarians made her a Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade for her life’s work.
Selected bibliography:Souliers de sable (2006), Conte du jour et de la nuit (1991), Comment vivre avec les hommes quand on est un géant (1990), Ti-jean voudrait ben s’marier, mais… (1990), La Marelle (1984), Les Petits Pouvoirs (1983)chez Léméac; Petit Pierre (2002), L’Ogrelet (1997), Contes à rebours (1997)chez Lanctôt; Salvador (1996), Contes d’enfants réels (1995) chez VLB; Le bruit desos qui craquent (2008); Frontière Nord (in Théâtre en court 2, 2007), Le Grillon (in 25 petites pièces d’auteur, 2007), Souliers de sable (2007), Petit Pierre (2006), Une lune entre deuxmaisons (2006), L’Ogrelet (2003), Salvador (2002) chez Théâtrales/ Jeunesse. Itinéraire d’auteur, CNES la Chartreuse (2002).
Company/personal website:
Why we chose this text: Even though this play is written like a fairytale, its structure and language are very modern. The play is evocative, effectively conjuring up a different world. The fairytale form makes it a little scary, but it also channels violence rather than attacking it. The play’s central question is how one escapes from one’s destiny.
Petite Poucet [Tomee Thumb] by Claudine Galea, Editions Espaces 34 / for age 6 and above
Summary: A little girls gives a present to another little girl who is hurt. Her gift is the made-up story of a girl Tom Thumb who escapes from the grip of her overly loving parents. Tomee Thumb goes on a journey with her six sisters and meets fabulous Mr Ogre. He gives them seven magic stones that will take them a long way.
Cast: 10 characters: 2 men, 1 woman, 7 little girls and several children’s voices. Can be performed by a reduced cast.
Additional information: Selected by La Mousson d’Hiver. Reading directed by Yannick Toussaint and Thérèse Touillet on 30 March 2010.
Biography: Claudine Galea writes plays, novels and illustrated books for adults and children. She was awarded the Grand Prix de la Littérature Dramatique for her play Au Bord in 2011. She is currently writing a stage adaptation of her illustrated book Au pays de Titus for Muriel Coadou and the Collectif7 theatre company, who will perform it on 2013.
Selected bibliography: Published by Editions Espaces 34:L'été où le ciel s'est renversé, 2011, Au Bord, 2010, Les Chants du silence rouge, 2008, Je reviens de loin, 2005, Les Idiots, 2004.
For children: La Nuit MêmePasPeur & Petite Poucet, L'heure blanche & Toutes leurs robes noires, 2009.
Why we chose this text: We love the imagination, humour, simplicity and poetry of this play that presents itself as a back-to-front version of the original fairytale. The girl is over-protected rather than abandoned, the ogre is a carer rather than a devourer… It’s a fun approach to a serious topic – the problems faced by a child that has been too cocooned and must find its way in the world.
Author’s comments: “While I’ve been writing for children I’ve realised that language is always connected to the body. There’s no separation between mind and body, but there are instead a multitude of associations, combinations and echoes. The boundaries between the real world, the fantastic and the world of dreams are porous. There are a great variety of meanings and children will pick out what they need. The sole rule is the precision of the language, although it is jagged, musical, sensual, radical, ambivalent, thrilling and fun all at once. That’s because children grasp the fun, music, sensuality, ambivalence, thrills and radicality before understanding what it means.”
Les Orphelines [The Orphans] by Marion Aubert, Editions Actes Sud-Papiers / for age 10 and above
Summary: Mister is in charge of an investigation into the disappearance of the little girls in the story. He takes his suitcase and a newspaper and sets off on his travels. He is soon taken prisoner by a gang of girls led by Violaine. Violaine is one of the disappeared too. She lives in an imaginary land. There she takes in all the little girls who have not been allowed to live. For thirty days and thirty nights, Mister will experience the hard life Violaine and her girlfriends live.
Cast: 2 men, 1 woman.
Additional information: “Is a woman just another man?” That was the question that Le Préau, Centre Dramatique Régional de Vire put to the playwright Marion Aubert and director and puppeteer Johnny Bert in 2009, which led them to put on a The Orphans about the continuing disappearance of girls in Asia.
Biography: Born in 1977 in Aurillac, Marion Aubert is an actress and playwright, having graduated from the professional section of the national arts school in Montpellier. In 1997 she founded the Tire pas la Nappe theatre company with Capucine Ducastelle, which ahs been the company-in-residence at the Théâtre des Treize Vents national drama centre for Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon. As well as performing with her company, she also accepts commissions form various directors including Philippe Delaigue, Philippe Goudard, Guillaume Delaveau and Babette Masson. Since 2005 Marion Aubert has also taken part in the Club des Auteurs du CDDB-Théâtre de Lorient and, alongside Rémi de Vos, Nathalie Fillon, David Lescot, Fabrice Melquiot and Christophe Pellet, has introduced audiences to contemporary plays.
Selected bibliography:Marion Aubert has written about 20 plays – most of them published by Actes Sud-Papiers - including:Le brame des biches (2011), Saga des habitants du Val de Moldavie, Orgueil poursuite et décapitation (2010), Phaéton (2008),Les Aventures de Nathalie Nicole Nicole followed by Voyage en pays herblinois (2007), Les Histrions, Les Trublions (2006)… and also: Les Aventures de Pénélope et Gudulon, unpublished, 1999, Orgie Nuptiale, unpublished, 2001, Textes pour un clown, in Monologues pour et autres textes, Éditions Espace 34, 2001.
Why we chose this text: The author takes a terrible truth – and makes it even more horrible. It is a serious topic, but Marion Aubert tackles it humorously and provocatively. It is an intense, disturbing play that gives as much of a scare as it does pleasure. It’s a thrilling read!
Author’s comments: “We’ll take a terrible state of affairs and make it even scarier. We’ll try to scare the children and also to draw them away (from their parents). But then there’s Johnny with his puppets and stuff.”
PLAYS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES
Dan Då Dan Dog [The Day Dan Died] by Rasmus Lindberg (Sweden)
Translated from the Swedish by Marianne Ségol-Samoy and Karin Serres, Editions Espaces 34.
Also translated into German, English, Croat and Russian.
Summary: During a reception after the burial of Edith’s husband, a series of absurd situations triggers a cascade of other events. Edith discovers cyst on her cheek and her doctor Herbert tells her that she has terminal cancer. As for the minister who presides over the burial, he can no longer stand his profession and is wondering what the point of his life is. There’s Amanda too, Edith’s granddaughter, who falls head over heels in love with Herbert and decides to split up with her boyfriend Sonny. Herbert is tangled up in his existential doubts and incapable of making any decisions; Sonny, in his desperation, grabs his father’s gun and, without meaning to, shoots Herbert’s dog Dan. Deprived of her past, her present and her future, Edith eventually throws herself from a bridge and flies off into the late afternoon sky. And thus ends the Dark Day Dan Died.
Cast: 4 men, 2 women and 1 dog.
Additional information: First performance in 2006 at the Jämntlands Länsteater directed by Olle Törnqvist. This was Rasmus Lindberg’s breakthrough play. The Day Dan Died was selected for the biennialSwedish theatre festival in 2007. Published by Editions Espaces 34.
Biography: Born in 1980 at Luleå in northern Sweden, Rasmus Lindberg trained as a theatre director at Dramatiska Institutet (Higher School of Performing Arts) whilst also writing plays. He has been associate author and director at the Norrbottensteater in Luleå since 2008. One of his plays, Svåraste är det med dom värdelösa was selected for biennial Swedish theatre festival, which was held on 3-7 June 2009 in Borås. Rasmus Lindberg writes for both adult and young audiences. He is considered one of the most promising playwrights in Sweden and is a member of a new generation of writers who write in an extremely polished style.
Selected bibliography:Svåraste är det med dom värdelösa (dir. Rasmus Lindberg, Teater Terrier, Teater Västernorrland, 2007, Riksteatern, 2006); I.D (dir. Olle Törnqvist, UngaRiks Riksteatern, 2006); Ljusets hastighet (Plus vite que la lumière, trad.: Marianne Ségol) (dir. Olle Thönqvist at the Norrbottenteater in Luleå, 2005); Förödelsedagsbarnet (dir. Olle Törnqvist, Riksteatern, 2009).
Why we chose this text: This inventive and scathing comedy mixes up the chronology of events. Each character in his/her own way is searching for some meaning to their lives in a blend of the normal and the abnormal, like dreams meeting real life. Its structure is almost impressionistic and the play tackles metaphysical questions about the relationship between space and time, which is a recurring theme in Rasmus Lindberg’s plays. It is a profoundly original piece of work.
Mitt liv som detektiv [My Life as a Detective] by Malin Axelsson (Sweden)
Translated from the Swedish by Marianne Ségol-Samoy / for age 4 and above
Summary: Little Dada lives in a cocooned world full of sounds but no words, full of hiding-places but with no access to the outside world. One might compare it to a mother’s tummy. Then the strange child minder comes along and upsets everything by trying to communicate with him. But it isn’t so easy to draw Dada out of his self-contained and reassuring environment. The child minder plays at being a detective exploring Dada’s closed-off world. Little by little, he works his way into Dada’s world and gets to know and to contact him using the body, games, sounds and words. Soon the two of them invent a shared language with shades of Dadaist childlike sound games.
Cast: 2 actors + 1 musician.
Additional information: First LABOO7 bilingual playwriting experiment between Sweden and France in 2008. Text commissioned by Riksteatern (Swedish National Travelling Theatre). Co-produced by Théâtre de la Tête Noire (Saran) and the Institut Suédois (Paris). Debut performances in Swedish and French.