Le Grand Inquisiteur
[The Grand Inquisitor]
inspired by Fédor Dostoïevski
directed by Sylvain Creuzevault
associated artist
avec le Festival d'Automne à Paris
new production
estimated duration 1h30
cast
Nicolas Bouchaud
Sylvain Creuzevault
Servane Ducorps
Vladislav Galard
Arthur Igual
Sava Lolov
Frédéric Noaille
Blanche Ripoche
Sylvain Sounier
Put two Russian kids together and you’re bound to wind up in metaphysics, says Ivan, the tortured intellectual, to his brother Alyosha, the unquiet novice. After listing a few grim facts lifted from the crime section, Ivan delivers a prose poem of his about Jesus coming back to life during the Spanish Inquisition, only to be threatened to be burned at the stake. According to the Grand Inquisitor, mankind isn't strong enough to bear Jesus’ gift of freedom to believe in « Him » rather than in earthly values, for such freedom implies the possibility of evil… This « most anarchist and revolutionary work ever written » (Berdiaev) invites us to « unmask » the great deceiver « wherever he is » - which is precisely what Creuzevault and his team intend to do.