No future? Was sexual liberation just a delusion? Reading Les Particules élémentaires, post-68 humanity seems to be off to a pretty bad start. Seeing the show, it's less certain. For the troupe's unstinting commitment and joy of performing, the striking use of video and the energy of a rock concert are all stage weapons which, since the creation of Les Particules, have aroused the enthusiasm of audiences of all generations. In adapting Houellebecq's novel, Gosselin and his performers have forged a theatrical style capable of grappling with a contemporary work and the questions it poses, exalting its atmospheres, restoring the multiple registers of its style, giving visible form to the acuteness of its still topical reflections. This critical investigation into the contradictions and torments of individualism in the late 20th century takes as its central thread the destinies of two half-brothers, Bruno the obsessed literary man and Michel the inhibited scientist, whose lives are examined from every angle: psychological, sociological, historical - and erotic, of course. After 2666, the event adaptation of Bolaño's sumptuous novel, Julien Gosselin and his company return to the Odéon's Grande Salle with the resounding success that first brought them to the attention of the Ateliers Berthier.
#LesParticulesélémentaires
A major French novel of the late 20th century.
A great theatrical production of the early 21st.
A wry and moving tale for our times.
Cast
adaptation and set design Julien Gosselin
lighting design and stage management Nicolas Joubert
musical creation Guillaume Bachelé
video creation Pierre Martin
video director Jérémie Bernaert
sound design Julien Feryn
costumes Caroline Tavernier
Assistant director Yann Lesvenan
Administration, production, distribution Eugénie Tesson
Tour logistics Emmanuel Mourmant
production Si vous pouviez lécher mon cœur
coproduction Théâtre du Nord - CDN de Lille Tourcoing Hauts-de-France, Festival d'Avignon, Le Phénix - Scène nationale de Valenciennes, La Rose des Vents - Scène nationale Lille Métropole Villeneuve d'Ascq, Théâtre de Vanves - Scène conventionnée pour la danse, Le Mail - Scène Culturelle de Soissons
With support from Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication / DRAC Hauts de France, Conseil Régional Nord Hauts de France, SACD Beaumarchais, Conseil Général du Pas de Calais and Ville de Lille.
Si vous pouviez lécher mon coeur and Julien Gosselin are associated with the phénix scène nationale Valenciennes pôle européen de création. TNT - Théâtre National Toulouse and Théâtre National de Strasbourg.
Les Particules élémentaires, by Michel Houellebecq, is published by Flammarion, 1998.
Director
Julien Gosselin trained at the École supérieure d'art dramatique de Lille, directed by Stuart Seide. With six fellow students, he formed Si vous pouviez lécher mon cœur in 2009, and directed Gênes 01 by Fausto Paravidino (Théâtre du Nord, 2010), Tristesse animal noir by Anja Hilling (Théâtre de Vanves, 2010) then Les Particules élémentaires after Michel Houellebecq (Festival d'Avignon, 2013). Next came Je ne vous ai jamais aimés by Pascal Bouaziz (Théâtre national de Bruxelles, 2014), Le Père by Stéphanie Chaillou (Théâtre national de Toulouse, 2015) and 2666, adapted from Roberto Bolaño's whirlwind novel (Festival d'Avignon, 2016).
After 1993, by Aurélien Bellanger (Festival de Marseille, with class 43 of the Théâtre national de Strasbourg), he returned to Avignon for Joueurs, Mao II, Les Noms, after Don DeLillo, which also inspired Vallende Man (L'Homme qui tombe), first performed at the International Theater Amsterdam (Netherlands), then Le Marteau et la Faucille (Printemps des Comédiens - Montpellier). In 2018, he won the XV Europe Prize for Theater in St. Petersburg. In 2021, Julien Gosselin will work with the Théâtre national de Strasbourg's Groupe 45 on an adaptation of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Dékalog, and will direct Le Passé, based on texts by Russian author Léonid Andréïev. In 2023, he created Extinction, based on Thomas Bernhard and Arthur Schnitzler, which brought together actors from Si vous pouviez lécher mon cœur and the Volksbuehne, and premiered at the Printemps des Comédiens in Montpellier, before going on to the Avignon Festival, Berlin, Antwerp and Paris (Théâtre de la Ville). He created Musée Duras with students from the CNSAD Class of 2025.
At the Odéon, Julien Gosselin and Si vous pouviez lécher mon cœur presented:
- Les Particules élémentaires, by Michel Houellebecq, at Les Ateliers Berthier (2014), reprised at Théâtre de l'Odéon 6e (2017);
- 2666, by Roberto Bolaño, at Les Ateliers Berthier (2016);
- Joueurs, Mao II, Les Noms, after Don DeLillo, at Les Ateliers Berthier (2018);
- Le Passé, after Leonid Andréïev, at Odéon 6e (2021).
He has been the director of the Odéon Théâtre de l'Europe since July 15.
Read the press release from the French Ministry of Culture
