Clotilde Hesme Fabien Gorgeart Pascal Sangla

Stallone, adapted from Emmanuèle Bernheim

Archive 2021
Theatre
1/2

Concept, Fabien Gorgeart, Clotilde Hesme, Pascal Sangla
Directed by Fabien Gorgeart
Based on Stallone by Emmanuèle Bernheim (published by Éditions Gallimard)
With Clotilde Hesme, and Pascal Sangla
Sound and live music, Pascal Sangla
Lighting, Thomas Veyssière
Artistic collaboration, Aurélie Barrin
Produced by Le CENTQUATRE-PARIS
Coproduced by Théâtre Sorano (Toulouse) ; and Festival d’Automne à Paris
With support from Adami and GoGoGo films

Lises exits the cinema, overcome by her emotions. She has just finished watching Rocky III. Just like the film’s hero, she decides to leave her comfort zone there and then, and to take control of her life once again. In this their first theatre-based collaboration, the filmmaker Fabien Gorgeart and the actress Clotilde Hesme tap into the upbeat tempo of Emmanuèle Bernheim’s novel in this untamed, fiery onstage proposition.

After the experience of seeing Rocky III, Lise runs into the street. From that moment on, Sylvester Stallone will be an important part of her life, because if her life has changed then it is down to him. She splits up from her partner and breaks with her daily routine, moves, goes back to studying, enrols in a boxing class, meets a new man, and has children… Everything happens very fast. Hovering between deep-seated impulse and obsession, Clotilde Hesme throws herself headlong into the role - mind, body, voice and soul. What ensues is a music and word-based jousting match between the actress and the multi-talented musician and inventor Pascal Sangla. Crouched over his mixing desk, he brings to life, with the aid of a few accessories, the different supplementary characters in the story, and creates improvised soundscapes. In this vibrant and fast-paced performance in which nothing is hidden from the audience’s view, a question of a complex yet nature rears its head: what do we, or can we, do with the time allotted to us? The piece constitutes a fitting tribute to the writing of Emmanuèle Bernheim, the French authoress and cinema critic who passed away in 2017.