with Isabelle Huppert, Agata Buzek, Andrzej Chyra, Alex Descas, Gaël Kamilindi, Norah Krief, Rosalba Torres Guerrero

Phaedra, in the plural. Under Euripides, she never even encounters Hippolyte to declare her love for him and dies rather than confront him. Under Seneca, she speaks to him - eye to eye - of her love. In the hands of Sarah Kane, anything is possible and yet nothing is: despite their physical proximity, the loved one remains as inaccessible as ever. So who is Phaedra, and what does she say to us?

Krzysztof Warlikowski, once again at the Odéon following on from his productions of Un Tramway and La Fin (Koniec), takes one of J. M. Coetzee’s intuitions as the basis for his explorations: “those who repress desire do so because their desire is sufficiently weak for it to be repressed”. In order to embody the mystery of all the various Phaedra, he has turned to Isabelle Huppert.

Cast

adaptation Krzysztof Warlikowski
dramaturgy Piotr Gruszczyński
set design and costumes Małgorzata Szczęśniak
music Paweł Mykietyn
lighting Felice Ross
video Denis Guéguin
choreography Claude Bardouil, Rosalba Torres Guerrero


production Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe
coproduction Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand – Scène nationale, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Barbican – Londres & LIFT, Onassis Cultural Centre – Athens

Elizabeth Costello : Copyright © 2003 by J. M. Coetzee
French translation by Catherine Lauga du Plessis (Editions du Seuil and Editions Points).

L'Arche is the french editor and theatral agent of L'Amour de Phèdre (Phaedra's love) by Sarah Kane, translated by Séverine Magois. www.arche-editeur.com

 

with the support of

the Cercle de l’Odéon
the Cercle Giorgio Strehler