Georges Lavaudant

The novelist Marie NDiaye is familiar to us, even more so since being awarded the Prix Goncourt in 2009, for Trois Femmes puissantes. However, a less well-known fact about this French author, born to a Senegalese father and now living in Berlin, is that she has also written several pieces of theatre, including Papa doit manger (which today figures amongst the Comédie Française’s repertory of works), in addition to books for children, radio plays and the script for the film White Material by Claire Denis, a cinematographer described by Marie NDiaye as being “more African than herself”. This aptitude for switching between different types of writing, in addition to the subtle way this popular author weaves together intimate themes (in particular heritage and parenthood) with vast subjects related to contemporary society, has lead to her putting her signature to the libretto of the monodrama Te craindre en ton absence, presented in March 2014 at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, and directed by Georges Lavaudant. Straight after directing this opera, the former director of the Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe now returns to the language of Marie NDiaye in the company of young actors selected for the new edition of Talents Adami Paroles d’acteurs, a teaching programme set up Adami in the aim of giving young performers the opportunity of working on a play with “master” directors. Georges Lavaudant will work with them on a collage of various texts, under the heading of Archipel Marie NDiaye.