Maxime Kurvers
Théories et pratiques du jeu d’acteur (1428-2020)
© © Willy Vainqueur ©
© © Willy Vainqueur ©
© © Willy Vainqueur ©
Conceived and directed by Maxime Kurvers
With Virginie Colemyn, Camille Duquesne, Julien Geffroy, Mamadou M’Bo, Caroline Menon-Bertheux, Yoshi Oida, and Dominique Reymond
Text and dramaturgy, Maxime Kurvers and the actors
Costumes, Anne-Catherine Kunz
Lighting, Manon Lauriol
Produced by MDCCCLXXI (Paris)
Coproduced by The Saison Foundation (Tokyo) ; La Commune centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers ; and Festival d’Automne à Paris
In association with La Commune centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers ; and Festival d’Automne à Paris
With the help of the Île-de-France Region as part of the aid for creation
With the support of the Ménagerie de Verre within the framework of the Studiolab, the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, Morishita Studio (Tokyo)
Maxime Kurvers is an associate artist at La Commune centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers.
By returning to the foundational texts of the discipline of theatre, Maxime Kurvers finds sustenance for a critical reading of the pedagogical tools put at the disposal of the actor or actress. He gives them the freedom to perform theoretical formulations, leading to the construction of a living encyclopaedia of these propositions, re-enacted before us.
Pursuing the different areas of research into the actor’s imagination that he set in motion in La Naissance de la tragédie (2018), Maxime Kurvers invites his actors to question their methodological tools and the distance which separates the prescriptive discourse they contain from the practice they result in. The key is to go back to the writings on which its theoretical foundations have been based, and to reread Zeami, Diderot, Brecht, Meyerhold, Lecoq, Bogart and Overlie, in order to restore to them their literality before setting off on hasty “theatrical departures”. Thus, each actor puts an intellectual proposition into practice in order to incorporate the theatrical knowledge which he or she simultaneously demonstrates. The grouping of these performative exercises thus forms a living library, re-enacted in a way which is the antithesis of the spectacular. Placing acting in the condition of an intellectual situation, Maxime Kurvers reinserts it into its historicity in order to better come to terms with the way the actor always makes a subjective analysis of the discourse, and which is in turn adapted according to its plasticity. Deduced from the individual understanding of the texts, this succession of situations to be enunciated effectively retraces a history of theatrical modernity. They provide the outline for the profile of a fully-conscious, potentially sovereign, actor or actress, who is free to interpret a role as he or she thinks fit. Recounting, today, the role and the social function of the actor throws light on the way these tools constitute the means at the disposal of each era for representing the world.
In the same place
Carte Blanche Dream City
The multi-disciplinary Tunisian festival Dream City is moving to Aubervilliers at the joint invitation of the Festival d'Automne and La Commune, with the shared desire to make this area rustle, resonate and dream through a dozen creations by international performing and visual artists.
Selma & Sofiane Ouissi BIRD
Starting with ordinary everyday gestures such as feeding, living together and getting around, Sofiane Ouissi explores our relationship with birds. Passionate about encounters and the journeys they generate, this time he delves into the relationship with another species.
Visual arts: exhibitions and conversations
Artists Jumana Manna and Sille Storihle, Manthia Diawara, Michael Rakowitz & Robert Chase Heishmans will be in La Commune from 20 to 28 September to present five works and invite you to take part in two conversations.
The works of Nil Yalter will be on display in the public space of Aubervilliers.
Conference by Sophie Bessis Tunisia in the turmoil of populism
After a decade of chaotic but richly experienced democratic apprenticeship, Tunisia found itself plunged into a new cycle of its post-colonial history from 2021 onwards. From that date onwards, Kaïs Saïed, who was democratically elected in 2019, assumed all the powers, transforming a fledgling democracy into an autocracy.
Sammy Baloji Missa Utica
The first black bishop appointed by the Catholic Church should have settled in Utica, Tunisia, but never did. His story is the starting point for Sammy Baloji's work.
Winter Family H2-Hébron
Winter Family is an experimental music and documentary theatre duo founded by Israeli artist Ruth Rosenthal and French musician Xavier Klaine. They play minimal, obsessive, abrasive and political music. They created H2 Hebron, their 3rd show in 2018, a documentary piece in which the transcription of nearly 500 pages of testimonies, their translation, selection and reappropriation by Winter Family are the central element and the main dramaturgical material of the show.
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué Biokhraphia
These two one-person shows, Biokhraphia et Riding on a cloud, are an investigation into the self-portrait. In Riding on a Cloud, a man called Yasser speaks into a dictaphone, projects videos and broadcasts recordings, whilst expressing reservations about the extent to which these documents coincide with his true self. In Biokhraphia, it is Lina Majdalanie who becomes the subject of a very unusual interview.
Rabih Mroué Riding on a cloud
These two one-person shows, Biokhraphia and Riding on a cloud, are an investigation into the self-portrait. In Riding on a Cloud, a man called Yasser speaks into a dictaphone, projects videos and broadcasts recordings, whilst expressing reservations about the extent to which these documents coincide with his true self. In Biokhraphia, it is Lina Majdalanie who becomes the subject of a very unusual interview.